President Bush says he is ready to increase the size of the U.S. military at a White House news conference where he discussed the situation in Iraq. The president said the year has been "a difficult year for our troops and the Iraqi people."
Mr. Bush would not discuss any specifics of what he'll announce when he delivers a speech on a revised Iraq policy promised for January. But he acknowledged that success has not come at the rate he had hoped for.
Still, the president said that he believes the United States will win in Iraq, even as polls show public support for his handling of the war at new lows.
President Bush provided few details of the U.S. strategy for the coming year. "I'm not going to make predictions about what 2007 will look like in Iraq," he said, "except that it's going to require difficult choices and additional sacrifices, because the enemy is merciless and violent."
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