WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush is acknowledging it was a tactical mistake not to send more troops to Iraq earlier, a White House counsel told CBS News Wednesday.
On the network's "Early Show," White House Counsel Dan Bartlett said in Wednesday night's address to the nation on a new strategy for Iraq, Bush will announce sending 22,000 more troops to the Baghdad area.
"A vast majority of the American people are not satisfied with the progress in Iraq," Bartlett said. "President Bush is in their camp. He's not satisfied, he's going to say the strategy was not working, he's going to tell them specifically how we're going to fix the strategy."
The report said the plan is to send 11,000 more troops in the next few weeks, followed by a second wave in March, April and May on several conditions.
Among them are if the Iraqi government can attain such benchmarks as curbing Shiite militias; distributing oil revenue among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds; and easing restrictions on Saddam Hussein's former Baathist Party.
There are 132,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and the Democratic congressional majority is largely opposed to bolstering their numbers.
