Don't Panic

New York Times Article

The Bush administration, under intense pressure to deal with mounting violence in Iraq and rising domestic criticism of the war there, said today that it was working “collaboratively” with Iraqi leaders to find better ways forward and had issued them no ultimatums.

But amid a ferment of speculation that the administration was considering new approaches, losing patience with the government in Baghdad and contemplating a series of deadlines for progress, one high-ranking Iraqi urged the coalition’s political leaders to avoid “panic.”

In London, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih of Iraq said that Prime Minister Tony Blair had assured him that Britain would “hold its nerve” in Iraq. But Mr. Salih also warned against British and American decision-makers giving way to “panic.”

“I’m obviously concerned about the debate both in the United States and in Europe, I have to say, because there is too much of the pessimistic tone to this debate, even I would say in certain circles a defeatist tone,” he said, according to news agencies.