U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he was considering a short-term increase in American forces in Iraq and believed that the United Sates should expand its Army and Marine Corps in the long term.
"I haven't made up my mind yet about more troops (for Iraq)," Bush said at a news conference. "We're looking at all options, and one of those options of course is increasing more troops, but in order to do so there must be a specific mission that can be accomplished with more troops."
Bush is expected to announce a new Iraq strategy in January.
The president said he was "inclined to believe" that there needed to be a permanent boost in the overall U.S. military because of the what he saw as a "long struggle against radicals and extremists."
"It's going to take a while for the ideology of liberty to triumph over the ideology of hate," he said.
Bush also said the United States supports the creation of a unity government in Iraq.
The US president opened the question-and-answer session by conceding that things haven't gone well in Iraq. "The enemies of liberty ... carried out a deliberate strategy to foment sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shia. And over the course of the year they had success," he said.
"Their success hurt our efforts to help the Iraqis rebuild their country. They set back reconciliation and kept Iraq's unity government and our coalition from establishing security and stability throughout the country."
Bush also explained his statement on Tuesday that the United States is neither winning nor losing in Iraq, contrasted with his insistence at a recent news conference that it was "absolutely winning."
He said his earlier comments were meant to say that, "I believe that we're going to win, I believe that ... My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I had wanted."
Bush was asked whether he was like Lyndon Johnson, who had difficulty sleeping during the difficult days of the Vietnam War. In response, the president said it was difficult knowing that "my decisions have caused young men and women to lose their lives." And yet, he said, the United States must prevail in the global war on terror and will. It "is the calling of our generation," he said.
