CRAWFORD, Texas Aug 23 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush gathered his top defense and security aides here Monday for a high-power strategy session on Iraq, the war on terror, and other security matters expected to figure prominently in November's presidential election.
The meeting -- the fourth of its kind to be held at Bush's Texas ranch since he took office in January 2001 -- assembled Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, along with several of the Pentagon's highest-ranking officers.
The security powwow interrupted the president's planned weeklong getaway at his ranch.
"This is the fourth annual meeting on defense priorities that we've had down here in Crawford. I expect that they will discuss a number of topics, including Iraq and the war on terrorism," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
"This is a chance for the President and Secretary Rumsfeld and other military leaders to get outside of Washington, DC and have a good, detailed discussion about key defense priorities."
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers and other military leaders were also to attend the meeting, along with the head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid, and the head of the multinational force in Iraq, General George Casey, who was to take part via video conference.
The talks were to encompass a wide range of issues, including the ongoing standoff in Najaf, Iraq, where US troops over the past two weeks have tried to put down an uprising whipped up by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
A little more than two months before the November 2 presidential election, Iraq remains perhaps the thorniest topic for the Republican president.
Some 140,000 US troops remain stationed in Iraq despite the handover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi goverment in June.
And daily US military casualities there are seen as a liability to Bush, who had hoped that last year's invasion to oust Saddam Hussein would burnish his credentials as a strong leader on defense and security.
While Iraq remained uppermost on the agenda of the president and his top aides Monday, both presidential campaigns -- Bush's and that of Democratic challenger John Kerry -- remained immersed in political controversy caused by television ads by a group of Vietnam war veterans who have accused Kerry of embellishing and lying about his exploits.
Kerry accused his Republican rival of using the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" as a front group to discredit his Vietnam war record.
The White House has refused to condemn the ad questioning the validity of the three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star awarded to Kerry for his Vietnam service.
For their part, Republicans have called Kerry's allegation "baseless" and countered that the Massachussets senator has turned a blind eye to underhanded attacks against Bush by pro-Democrat activist groups.