Friday, April 20, 2007
Gates: U.S. commitment to Iraq not open-ended
Security, U.S.
(RFE/RL) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on an announced visit to Iraq, says the U.S. commitment to the war in Iraq is not open-ended. Gates, who arrived in Baghad on April 19 from Israel, flew on by helicopter to Al-Fallujah along with the most senior U.S. military officials. In the city that was once the symbol of the Iraqi insurgency, Gates told reporters that "the clock is ticking." He added that he will tell Iraqi leaders that they must move faster on political reconciliation and in passing legislation on sharing oil revenues.
Gates' visit came one day after bombers killed more than 200 people in attacks mainly in Baghdad, and one week after a deadly bombing inside the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone. Meanwhile, Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, said on April 19 that the war in Iraq "is lost." Reid told reporters in Washington that a U.S. troop surge ordered by President George W. Bush is failing to bring peace to Iraq.
Reid says he delivered the same message to Bush on April 18, when the president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war-funding bill. The senator said he believes the Iraq war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically. Congress is seeking to tie funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq next year. Bush has vowed to veto any such bill.
Labels: Fallujah, Iraq, Robert Gates, U.S.
