US: President George W Bush has acknowledged that the current violence in Iraq is comparable with the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, which was widely seen as turning US public opinion against that war.
In an interview on ABC News, Mr Bush was asked if he agreed with an assertion by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that the situation in Iraq is equivalent to the Tet offensive.
"He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election," he said.
Mr Bush said al-Qaeda wanted to inflict as much violence as possible on US forces in Iraq to persuade Washington to leave the country. "Look, here's how I view it. First of all, al-Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal.
"They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence. They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw," he said.
US military authorities say that attacks on US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have increased by 43 per cent since the middle of summer as sectarian violence soars. A spate of attacks killed at least 38 people yesterday, while 10 US soldiers died on Tuesday, the highest death toll US forces suffered on a single day for 10 months.
The US military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj Gen William Caldwell, admitted yesterday that a decision two months ago to move more US forces into the Iraqi capital had produced disappointing results. "In Baghdad, Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but has not met our overall expectations in sustaining a reduction in the level of violence," he said.
The war in Iraq has become a serious liability for Republican candidates in next month's congressional elections as American public opinion turns against the US military presence there.
Democrats dismiss the administration's policy as "staying the course" but a change of course is likely after the elections, when the bipartisan Iraq Study Group reports. The 10-person group, co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, hopes to produce a consensus report on options for Iraq, which will be submitted to Congress and to the White House.
"I happen to think, and I think it's fair to say our commission believes, that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives. . . of stay the course and cut and run," Mr Baker said.
The group will not discuss the options under consideration but speculation in Washington focuses on a handful of proposals, including a partition of Iraq into three ethnic- or faith-based parts and a phased withdrawal of US forces, possibly leaving a small, rapid-reaction force on the edge of Iraq's borders.
Mr Baker and his colleagues have visited Iraq and have also had talks with its neighbours, including Iran and Syria, about the country's future.
Dennis Ross, a former foreign policy adviser to Presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton, called this week for a regional conference with all of Iraq's neighbours - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
Mr Bush insists that US policy in Iraq has been adapting to changing circumstances but in his ABC News interview, he said he did not expect all US troops to have left Iraq before he leaves the White House in January 2009.