BUSH

WASHINGTON (Reuters):

The Iraq Study Group yesterday recommended that U.S. forces begin to withdraw from combat in Iraq and called for a new diplomatic and political push to improve a "grave and deteriorating" situation.

U.S. President George W. Bush said he would take the report "very seriously" after meeting with the bipartisan group, but the White House has made clear he will not be bound by its conclusions and has begun its own review of Iraq policy.

"The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating," the five Republicans and five Democrats in the group said in the report. "There is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq," they added.

"Our most important recommendations call for new and enhanced diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq that will enable the United States to begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq respon-sibly," the report said.

Resisting calls

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the panel also urged direct U.S. engagement with Syria and Iran on stabilising Iraq. Bush has so far resisted calls for direct talks with both countries, which he accuses of fuelling the insurgency.

"This report gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq," Bush said after meeting for about an hour with the group's members. "I told the members that this report, called 'The Way Forward,' will be taken very seriously by this administration," Bush said.

Snow said the report also recommended that the U.S. military launch a rapid effort to train Iraqi forces to defend their country. It recommends no specific timetable for U.S. troop reductions, he said.