WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Tuesday acknowledged that it's considering a temporary surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, but denied a split with the Joint Chiefs of Staff over the idea.

    White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said at the daily briefing that a short-term boost in troop strength is among a number of ideas that U.S. President George W. Bush is looking at.

    However, he described as "totally inaccurate" a Washington Post report that the Joint Chiefs are unanimously opposed to the plan in the face of "aggressive" support from White House officials.

    Snow emphasized that no decisions have been made about changing U.S. policy in Iraq.

    "There's an assumption that people have been given marching orders, and at this point, the president is asking folks to take a look at a number of things," he said.

    The spokesman stopped short of saying that Bush is leaning one way or the other about increasing troops in Iraq or a new direction in U.S. policy.

    According to media reports, the White House is pushing the idea of a surge in troops and the Joint Chiefs oppose it.

    Tuesday's Washington Post reported that sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq.

    However, the Joint Chiefs think the White House, after a month of talks, still does not have a defined mission and is latching onto the surge idea in part because of limited alternatives, according to the report.

    They also argued that a short-term surge would harm longer-termd eployments.