The Iraqi government reacted sceptically Thursday to the new strategy for the war-torn country announced by US President George W Bush, while Iran and Syria condemned it outright, and European countries expressed reservations.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the plan included some positive elements and could be developed further.

At the same time al-Dabbagh stressed, "We know what is appropriate considering the situation in Iraq and we will decide on that, nobody else."

Bush announced his new plan for Iraq in a speech on Wednesday in Washington. The plan includes an extra 21,500 troops.

The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars said that Bush's strategy was wrong: the only way out of the crisis was for the US troops to withdraw completely from Iraq.

Some Sunni members of the government and opposition party supporters said it was good that Bush had now clarified that he also wanted to put the Iraqi government in a position of responsibility.

Iran, Syria and Jordan condemned the new Iraq policy, while in Europe it was given a guarded welcome with regrets there weren't more political elements to it.

The Australian leadership praised the speech, but both Canberra and London announced they would not be sending in any more troops.

"This is an unsuitable new year present by the US president to the American people as increasing the number of the forces would just expand insecurity and not at all help solving the dilemma in Iraq," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told IRNA news agency.

Syria's government-run newspaper Tishrin said, "The situation in Iraq is catastrophic, and Bush's strategy would be another catastrophe and the only loser is the Iraqi people."

Syrian Vice-President Farouk al-Sharaa had already said Wednesday that Bush's strategy was "not a positive step," adding that the increase in the US troops in Iraq would "pour oil on the fire."

Across the border in Jordan, the largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), said Bush's new Iraq strategy was "doomed."

"The strategy designed to salvage the United States from the Iraqi marshes will only deepen the American impasse in Iraq and the entire region," IAF Deputy Secretary General Rahil Gharaibeh said in a statement.

Bush had issued a direct warning to Iran and Syria in his speech that the US would move to stop them from fuelling sectarian violence in Iraq and supporting militants who are attacking US troops.

"These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq," Bush said.

"We will disrupt the attacks on our forces," Bush said. "We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria."

Bush's approach contrasted with the advice of a group of prominent US public figures, who in December urged him to pursue high-level diplomacy with Iran and Syria.

Britain welcomed Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq but said the government in London had no plans to increase its deployment.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, said the decision to send a further 21,500 troops showed the "determination of the US to deal with the security situation in Iraq."

Reaction elsewhere in Europe was led by the German presidency of the European Union, which voiced concern at the continuing bloodshed in Iraq and reiterated its commitment to a "safe, stable and unified Iraq."

Emma Udwin, spokeswoman for EU external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said the European Commission welcomed the fact that President Bush had "alluded" to a more comprehensive approach in Iraq.

"We hope the measures (by Washington) will lead to greater stability," said Udwin, adding that the process of national reconciliation was important to achieve an end to bloodshed.

Denmark and Sweden said they had wanted more political elements from Bush's speech.

Denmark supports Iraq's efforts to launch a political dialogue with neighbours Syria and Iraq, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said.

Moller welcomed that Bush had mentioned the need for aid and reconstruction in Iraq and creating more jobs.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the speech seemed to "focus on immediate security concerns in Baghdad and Baghdad's vicinity."

"There was much less regarding the key political challenges. They were just mentioned in passing or hardly at all. The regional perspective has disappeared in my view," he told Swedish radio.

The answer to Iraq's problems is not military but "global" and "political," French Foreign Affairs Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said.

Douste-Blazy said, "It is therefore with a global approach, a political strategy, that stability will come to Iraq and ... to the entire region."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard threw his support behind Bush's decision to beef up American forces in Iraq.

"The alternatives the president faced were either to announce what he announced or effectively indicate the West could not win in Iraq," Howard told reporters in Sydney after Bush announced the deployment of more than 20,000 extra troops.

"I believe the president chose the only realistic option," Howard said.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia wouldn't be following the United States and enlarging its Iraq force.

By Deutsche Presse-Agentur

© 2007 DPA