Bush sets stage for major escalation in Iraq (tags)
The remarks delivered by President Bush at a year-end press conference Wednesday, combined with a series of military and political developments, point inexorably to a major escalation of the US war in Iraq in the coming year. Bush revealed little new in his encounter with the press corps, dismissing as “hypothetical” all questions on the reported turn by his administration to a new military offensive in Iraq based on a “surge” of up to 40,000 more US combat troops in the country.