White House officials said yesterday they saw reason to be hopeful that the situation would eventually improve. But they could not say when the turning point would come.
From Mr Bush down, the administration now acknowledges that the US-led occupation has bred more frustration among Iraqis than the White House initially expected.
A senior administration official said there were developments which could lead to an improvement, but the official said it was likely that in the next few weeks those who opposed the US presence would intensify their attacks.
In April, 136 American soldiers died in Iraq, and 10 times as many Iraqis – on both counts, the most since Saddam’s fall.
The deaths raised to 757 the number of US military who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
