Bush talks to top advisers, Blair over Iraq

No details were immediately available, but the briefing had been expected to include the US Civilian leader in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and Gen John Abizaid, chief of US-led military forces there. Bremer had cancelled a trip to Washington to brief US lawmakers.

Bush, who is spending the week at his central Texas ranch, also spoke by telephone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of his strongest supporters in Iraq. Blair, under fire at home for his stance on Iraq, is due in Washington April 16 to meet Bush.

The rising casualty toll came as public support for Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq appeared to be eroding at a time when he is casting himself as a war President in this presidential campaign year.

A CBS News poll taken just before last week’s mutilation killings of four US contractors in Falluja showed that 44 percent approved of the way Bush was handling the Iraq situation, a decline of 5 percentage points in a month.

A poll from the Pew Research Center on Monday put that number at 40 percent, while only 32 percent thought the President had a clear plan on Iraq. —(Reuters)