US military commanders won't wait forever for local political efforts to quell the insurgency in Fallujah, US officials said as they laid out in greater detail the US administration's evolving strategy to deal with one of the trickiest standoffs of the war.
The commanders' words Friday foreshadow the possibility of a "strong fight" to gain control of the city, if joint Iraqi-American efforts fail to halt the violence.
Military leaders acknowledge the situation remains delicate as local leaders in Fallujah try different ways to resolve the insurgency. The situation has commanded the daily -- sometimes hourly -- attention of US President George W. Bush, a senior administration official with knowledge of the inner workings of the White House said Friday on condition of anonymity.
``The question is how long do we wait ... to see if these will produce a positive outcome,'' the administration official said, describing the internal deliberations aimed at ending the standoff between soldiers and insurgents inside the city.
"The answer is, we're trying to wait as long as we can, but the answer is, not forever," the official said.
At the US Central Command's headquarters in Qatar on Friday, General John Abizaid made it clear that while the recent deal struck for an Iraqi force in Fallujah warrants optimism, US officials could still decide to launch a military offensive there, depending on what the insurgents do.
"It may be necessary to have a strong fight in there" if the insurgents don't cooperate, said the general, the top US military commander in the Persian Gulf.
He said it was far from certain that efforts to train an Iraqi force, called the Fallujah Protective Army, would succeed in regaining control of the city, one of the most hostile areas in the tense Sunni Triangle.
That effort continued Friday as convoys of US troops and equipment headed out of parts of Fallujah, replaced by Iraqi troops in red berets, serving under the flag that flew over Iraq under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Administration officials and military commanders see the shift of security responsibilities to Iraqis -- action that reduces the US profile in Fallujah -- as a move toward ending the intense fighting that has brought strong international criticism.
"We're making progress, you bet," Bush insisted on Friday. Part of the strategy in Iraq, he said, is to deal with those who are trying to stop the Iraqi people from realizing their ambitions of a free society. "Whether it be in Fallujah, or elsewhere, we will deal with them," Bush said.
The new Iraqi security force in Fallujah also reflects the shift in an initial US strategy to abolish the Iraqi army and sideline former members of Saddam's Baath Party. Leading the Iraqi brigade in Fallujah is Major General Jassim Mohammed Saleh, who once served in Saddam's Republican Guard.
Saleh's past ties to Saddam goes to the heart of one worry the Americans have: whether the Iraqis who are trying to calm the situation in Fallujah will be able to live up to their promises to quell violence.
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