Bush Leaves Door Open for More Troops in Iraq

President Bush on Thursday raised the possibility of sending more U.S. soldiers to Iraq as he and British Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced the latest terrorist bombing in Turkey as a cowardly act that would only strengthen their will to eradicate what both men called “this evil.”

“There must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it, wherever and whenever we can, and in defeating it utterly,” Blair said.

Bush, speaking at 10 Downing Street as tens of thousands of protesters rallied nearby, suggested the possibility of a greater American military presence -- an idea likely to be controversial in the U.S. -- as he pledged to do “what is ever necessary to secure Iraq.”

Bush’s comments generated some confusion because he also said that he would base such decisions on the recommendations of U.S. military commanders. The Pentagon has stated its intention to draw down the number of troops there.

Several hours after Bush spoke, a senior administration official here downplayed the possibility of sending more Americans to Iraq, although she did not rule it out.

“There simply isn’t any indication that there would be a need for additional American forces,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “In fact, the [president’s] conversations with the commanders have gone the other way.”

Bush offhandedly mentioned the possibility of boosting the U.S. troop presence during a news conference when a British reporter began a question by saying, “You say you want to bring the troops home starting from next year ... “

Bush shook his head in disagreement and replied: “I said that we’re going to bring our troops home starting next year? What I said is that we’ll match the security needs with the number of troops necessary to secure Iraq. And we’re relying upon our commanders on the ground to make those decisions. We could have less troops in Iraq. We could have the same number of troops in Iraq. We could have more troops in Iraq -- what is ever necessary to secure Iraq.”

A moment later, Bush amended his remarks, announcing that he wanted to give a follow-up answer. He said the troop level would depend largely on the ability of Iraqis to staff their own security forces, the army, the intelligence service, the police, the border patrol, and the like.

“There’s over 130,000 Iraqis now who have been trained,” the president said. “So part of the answer ... is how fast the new brigades of Iraqi army are stood up, how effective they are.”

In Washington, Pentagon officials said later that there was no change in the plan to reduce American force levels in Iraq from about 130,000 to about 105,000 by mid-2004. This week, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the new Army chief of staff, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that none of the commanders in Iraq said they were short of fighters.

“There has not been one commander that has told me they want more troops on the ground over there,” Schoomaker told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

Bush and Blair spoke during a joint news conference after their latest face-to-face meeting, which took place at Downing Street.

The president today completes a three-day state visit to Britain and is to return to Washington this evening after joining Blair on a stop at the prime minister’s home district in northeastern Britain.

Shortly after the leaders spoke Thursday, throngs of antiwar demonstrators gathered in central London to protest the Iraq war.

Police estimated that about 110,000 people marched past government offices and Downing Street and then rallied at Trafalgar Square.

Many participants chanted slogans and waved placards to register their views on an array of issues unrelated to the war, from pollution to AIDS.

“You can’t bomb your way to peace,” Caroline Lucas, a Green Party member, told the rally. “Our prime minister is an ally of George Bush, but the British people are not. Climate change is a weapon of mass destruction too.”

Not far away, a small group of U.S. students draped themselves in the American flag. “I’m standing here to show my support for my country and my president,” said Justin Schneider of Boston, in London on a college semester-abroad program. “I don’t agree with everything [Bush] has done, and maybe he shouldn’t have gone into Iraq -- but some good will come of it. How many of these Muslim demonstrators could hold this demonstration in their own country?”

The rally’s climax came as the demonstrators toppled a two-story-tall, weapon-toting effigy of Bush, in a parody of the toppling of a massive Saddam Hussein statue in central Baghdad in April.

In their talks, Bush and Blair discussed not only their common goals but areas of disagreement, such as Bush’s imposition of tariffs on foreign steel imports in 2002 and the U.S. detention of British citizens as “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But they made little progress

“We are in discussions about this,” Blair said of the prisoner issue. “It’s not going to be resolved today. But it will be resolved at some point soon.”

Bush said he would make “a timely decision” on the steel tariffs.

On the two sets of bombings in Istanbul in the last week, both Bush and Blair expressed sorrow for the victims while reiterating their determination to press on in Iraq and elsewhere.

“There may be some who think that Britain would gain from standing back from this struggle, even some who believe that we and the United States and our allies have somehow brought this upon ourselves,” the prime minister said. “Let us be very clear: America did not attack Al Qaeda on 11 September. Al Qaeda attacked America.”

Bush said: “Our mission in Iraq is noble and it is necessary. No act of thugs or killers will change our resolve or alter their fate.”

“A free Iraq will be free of them,” the president said. “We will finish the job we have begun.”

Earlier in the day, Bush visited privately with family members of seven British soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It was very emotional, very private,” White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said of the meeting, which took place in a chapel at Westminster Abbey, where the Bushes had laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

“The families were unbelievably strong,” Laura Bush told reporters afterward. “We went, of course, to try to comfort them. But they really ended up comforting us. Most of them said, ‘Stay the course, keep going.’ ”

Meanwhile, in court Thursday, Buckingham Palace won an injunction barring the Daily Mirror newspaper from printing additional stories or photographs from a reporter who was hired as a royal footman after giving false references.

He worked in the palace for two months, departing voluntarily after Bush arrived to stay at Queen Elizabeth II’s official residence.

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Times staff writers Esther Schrader in Washington and Janet Stobart in London and special correspondent William Wallace in London contributed to this report. Times wire services were also used.