New Pentagon chief briefs Bush on Iraq

Defence Secretary Robert Gates finished his first week on the job by delivering a report to Bush on the three days he spent talking with Iraqi leaders, US commanders and American soldiers. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Peter Pace, who travelled with Gates to Iraq, helped make the presentation.

The early-morning meeting at Camp David in Maryland's mountains lasted about an hour. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Hadley's deputy, JD Crouch, who is coordinating the administration's Iraq review, also participated.

White House officials declined to disclose any details of the conversations. Bush is meeting with his national security team again Thursday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"The president is pleased with the progress being made" to design a new policy, said Blain Rethmeier, a Bush spokesman. "The president is leaving all options on the table on the way forward."

With public support for the war falling as violence and US deaths rise, Bush has been eager to show he is ready to make changes even while he rejects calls from Democrats, who take control of Congress next month, for significant troop withdrawals to begin soon. The president has talked often in recent weeks about the long commitment America must make to Iraq.

He is expect to announce his revamped Iraq strategy in a speech to the nation between the New Year's Day and his Jan. 23 State of the Union address.

"If you're serving on the front lines halfway across the world, it is natural to wonder what all this means for you," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "I want our troops to know that while the coming year will bring change, one thing will not change, and that is our nation's support for you and the vital work you do to achieve a victory in Iraq."

Meanwhile, seven Iraqi policemen were killed and another 20 wounded on Sunday when an explosion ripped through a police station in the war-torn province of Diyala, a police officer said.

Another two US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the US military announced on Sunday.

One soldier was killed and four others were wounded on Saturday when a bomb exploded southeast of Baghdad, targeting a combat patrol searching for "suspected terrorists," the military said.