White House to 'retool' Iraq strategy

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WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- The White House announced Tuesday it will make changes in its mission in Iraq after a disappointing interim report on Iraqi benchmarks.

"Everybody says, 'We want to do it a new way.' We agree. It's now started," said White House spokesman Tony Snow, calling it a "retooling" of the war mission.

Lawmakers in President George Bush's own party have been calling for a change and an interim report to be released this week is expected to show little Iraqi progress on benchmarks aimed at stopping sectarian violence there, CNN reported Tuesday.

The report comes six months after Bush announced an increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq that became known as the "surge."

Dissenting Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Bush "needs a new strategy" supported by more Americans.

"A strategy can't sustain itself unless it has more broad support in the country, in the Congress, than his current strategy does," Alexander Tuesday told CNN's "American Morning."