President George W Bush said that a new approach was required on Iraq, one day after a scathing report by the Iraq Study Group called for changing US strategy.
Mr Bush held a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House after talks to discuss the group’s findings. He said: ‘I believe we need a new approach.’
President Bush went on to say that the situation in Iraq was 'bad', but that the US and Britain would continue to work together to try to make progress.
Mr Blair said the Iraq Study Group's report offered a 'strong way forward' for the US and Britain.
The review urges talks with Iran and Syria on tackling Iraq's unrest, a move Mr Bush has resisted.
Middle East peace mission
Mr Blair will also launch a Middle East mission to show US and British commitment to ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The Iraq Study Group said that Mr Bush needed to launch a new Middle East peace effort to give the United States renewed credibility in the region.
Mr Bush said: ‘Prime Minister Blair informed me that he will be heading to the Middle East soon, to talk to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.
‘I support the mission, because it's important for us to advance the cause of two states living side by side in peace and helping both parties eliminate the obstacles that prevent an agreement from being reached.’
Mr Blair said that it was important that ‘we do everything we can in the wider Middle East to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians’.
He added: ‘I believe that by moving this forward, we send a very strong signal, not just to the region but to the whole of the world that we are even-handed and just in the application of our values.
'We need to get the door unlocked, because it's kind of barred at the moment, and it needs to be opened.'
Seven dead in attacks across Iraq
Meanwhile, at least seven people have been killed in a series of attacks across Iraq, in further evidence of what the Iraq Study Group has described as a 'grave and deteriorating' cycle of violence.
In the western city of Fallujah a car bomb blast targeting a police patrol left three police officers dead.
A short time later in Baghdad, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Iraqi police force and two of his bodyguards were killed when militants ambushed the group in the al-Shaab area.
South of the capital, in the mainly Shia city of Diwaniyah, gunmen murdered Alwan Qasim, a former member of ousted leader Saddam Hussein's defunct Baath Party.
And in Iskandriyah, police found the bodies of two unidentified civilians, shot in the head and chest and with their hands bound behind their backs.
It is estimated that around 100 Iraqis are being killed everyday in spiralling sectarian violence.
