American commitment to war not open-ended
A suicide bomber infiltrated the parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone a week ago, dealing a blow to the US-led effort to pacify the capital's streets.
By PTI |
Fallujah: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on an unannounced trip to Iraq, delivered a sharp message to the country's political leaders: The US military's commitment to the war is not open-ended.
"The clock is ticking," Gates told reporters on Thursday saying he will warn Iraqi officials that they must move faster on political reconciliation. "I know it's difficult, and clearly the attack on the council of representatives has made people nervous, but I think that it's very important that they bend every effort to getting this legislation done as quickly as possible."
A suicide bomber infiltrated the parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone a week ago, dealing a blow to the US-led effort to pacify the capital's streets.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the violence in Baghdad an "open battle."
Gates, travelling to Iraq for the third time in four months, took a decidedly stronger tone this time, reflecting US frustration and the political tumult in Washington, where US President George W Bush and Congress are deadlocked over whether to set an end date for the war.
Since January, when Bush announced his new strategy for the Iraq war - featuring a troop buildup and a renewed push for economic development and political progress - Gates and other senior administration officials have frequently and publicly reminded the Iraqis that they must act quickly to settle their differences.
They have attempted to strike a balance between pressuring the Iraqis to reconcile and reassuring them that the US military will not abandon them while they struggle to avert a full-scale civil war.
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