US President George W Bush was forced to issue a statement reiterating his support for Iraq's beleaguered leader, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, amid talk in Washington of the need for a radical change in strategy.
The speculation has been fuelled by a steady increase in US military casualties, with another seven killed on Monday alone.
The grim Iraqi civilian and military toll also continued its steady rise, with at least 49 killed and 67 bodies found in Baghdad, as sectarian bloodletting raged across the country.
As night fell in the capital and Muslims gathered to break their daylight Ramadan fast, two massive car bombs detonated in a mainly Shiite suburb, scattering 20 bloodied corpses in the streets.
Further north, a brutal wave of sectarian slaughter gripped districts around the town of Balad, where hospital staff reported receiving 80 corpses, mainly Sunni villagers gunned down by Shiite death squads.
Already before the month of Ramadan began more than 100 Iraqis were being killed every day. Two weeks later Iraq is gripped by the worst violence it has seen since the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Tactical review
A review of the situation by a bipartisan US committee of experts headed by former secretary of state James Baker is expected to recommend a change in US strategy for rebuilding Iraq.
Against this background, Bush's spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that the US president had called Maliki to reassure him.
"The president said, 'please don't worry, and you have our full support'," Snow told White House reporters.
The Iraqi Prime Minister’s own frustration with his US sponsors boiled over in an interview with the daily USA Today, in which he blamed coalition administrators for the weakness of Iraqi security forces.
Al-Maliki also warned that it will take several months to even begin to disarm the powerful Shiite militias which US commanders say are now the biggest single threat to the stability of Iraq.