More than one week after the U.S. death toll in Iraq passed 3,000, President Bush has announced plans to escalate the war and send over 20,000 more troops. In a prime-time address Wednesday, the president called the situation in Iraq “unacceptable” and said he took responsibility for past mistakes. But he insisted more troops are needed on the ground.

President Bush: “America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I have committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq. The vast majority of them — five brigades — will be deployed to Baghdad.”