Gates: 'Clock Is Ticking' on Iraq
(AP)Updated: 2007-04-20 06:53
"It's not that these laws are going to change the situation immediately, but I think ... the ability to get them done communicates a willingness to work together," he said.
Those efforts, Gates said, would, in turn, create an environment in which violence could be reduced. But he acknowledged, "I'm sympathetic with some of the challenges that they face."
Shortly after landing in Baghdad, Gates boarded a helicopter to Camp Fallujah, about 35 miles west of the capital city. There, he met with top military commanders, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, and the top US commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus.
Commanders agreed that the recent uptick in violence is troublesome, occurring just as they were starting to see some improvements.
Gates stopped in Iraq on a trip through the Middle East. His visit comes on the heels of Iraq's bloodiest day since the US troop buildup ordered by Bush began nine weeks ago. On Wednesday, four bomb blasts killed 230 people.
"Yesterday was a bad day, there's no two ways about it," said Petraeus. "And a day like that can have a real psychological impact, and it came at a time where frankly ... (we) felt like we were getting a bit of traction."
Petraeus added that while the changes are almost imperceptible at times, there had been slow progress both in Anbar Province, which has been a stronghold for Sunni insurgents, and with the Baghdad security plan.
"Clearly these sensational attacks can't be anything other than viewed as setbacks and challenges," said Petraeus. But he said that after meeting with Iraqi leaders Wednesday and Thursday, he believes they are determined to calm their people and press on.
Commanders also expressed little support for withdrawing troops in the coming months.
Brig. Gen. Mark Gurganus, commander of ground forces in Anbar Province, said he has seen progress in western Iraq, including a decrease in attacks and an increase in recruitment of Iraqi police and army soldiers.
Reducing his forces, he said, could erase the gains they've made. "Would it have an adverse impact? Absolutely," he said.
Underscoring the urgency in controlling the violence, police said a suicide car bomber rammed into a fuel truck in central Baghdad only hours before Gates arrived, killing at least a dozen people.
"It is very important they make every effort to get this done as soon as possible," Gates said, noting that the attack at the Iraqi parliament building made people particularly nervous.
Just a day before Gates' visit, Bush met with congressional leaders to discuss the impasse over legislation to provide funds for the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Three of the five brigades Bush ordered into Iraq to stem Baghdad violence have arrived, bringing US forces in the country to 146,000. Officials want the rest in place by June, for a total of 160,000.
Soon after that, they plan to assess how much longer the higher troop level - about 30,000 more than before the buildup - will be needed.
Officials have struggled to find troops from within the stretched US military to sustain the increase. Gates last week lengthened tours of duty to the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan from one year to 15 months.
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