In a region where admission of error is rare among leaders fearful of appearing weak, President Bush’s candour has been trumpeted by his enemies as a statement of defeat.

Sunni insurgents contacted by The Times after Mr Bush’s surge strategy was announced gleefully seized upon his remark: "mistakes have been made".

Abu Mo’ath, of the ’Islamic and Nationalist Front for the Liberation of Iraq, said: "This strategy is nothing new ....but the new thing about it is the defeated accent of the American President Bush who always worked hard to appear tough and strong, and rejected any sort of negotiations about Iraq’s problems."

Abu Qutada, an anti-coalition fighter with the self-styled al-Rashideen Army, said: "It’s very clear that America failed completely in Iraq in all aspects, as their politicians are saying.

"But we say defeated, not just failed, and they are nowadays desperate to find a way out of their troubles here."

In the wider Arab world Al-Khaleej newspaper in the United Arab Emirates dismissed Mr Bush, saying "he has no more credibility, either in his country or abroad....his military forces are headed for defeat."

Ibrahim Aloush, a Jordanian political analyst, said: "Until a few months ago, Bush and the Neocons were acting so pompously about their policy in Iraq. So where’s that triumphant look now? It’s definitely not there any more.

"The guy looks tired, literally beaten. And he was beaten in Iraq. Even if the admission of mistakes came in the fom of ’We weren’t doing enough’ that still remains a testimony to the valiant efficiency of the Iraqi resistance on the ground."

And Fathi Khataab, in Egypt’s Islamist opposition al-Ahrar newspaper, shared the opinion of many that Mr Bush’s ’admission’ of defeat boded ill for the prospects of stability in the Middle East: "No doubt that the admission of mistakes in Iraq is a victory for the Iraqi resistance and a clear failure of the American administration in Iraq," he wrote.

"Bush’s plans to increase the troops is proof of his failure. Because of this failure in front of the Iraqi resistance he has started searching for a victory in the region in Iran and Syria."

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