Iraq's government has agreed to a timetable of steps over the next year to ease spiralling violence, US officials said on Tuesday, as election pressure mounts on President George W. Bush to change his Iraq policy.
Two weeks ahead of congressional elections in which Bush's Republicans are on the defensive over Iraq, the US ambassador and its military commander in Baghdad told a rare joint news conference that success in Iraq was still possible - and on a "realistic timetable" that would let US troops start leaving.
Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said he expected Iraqi leaders to make "significant progress in the coming 12 months" - with support from US troops and officials - in meeting "benchmarks" for resolving disputes and curbing sectarian killing. He gave no indication of what if any action Washington would take if Iraq's fractious national unity government failed to meet those expectations.
He and General George Casey warned US and Iraqi forces faced a tough task against enemies that included not just al Qaeda militants but also Iran and Syria. Both used strong language to decry "decidedly unhelpful" and "cynical" policies pursued by Iraq's two neighbours.
Casey said he was planning unspecified changes in tactics to staunch sectarian bloodshed that is claiming hundreds of lives a week, especially in Baghdad, where Shias and Sunni Muslims live side by side.
He said he would ask for additional US troops from outside Iraq if required but stressed this was only one option and that US or Iraqi troops within the country could also be moved.
Training and equipping Iraqi forces is a key part of Bush's plan to withdraw American troops from an increasingly unpopular war. Casey repeated a forecast that Iraqi forces would be able to handle security within 12 to 18 months, with some US help.
He praised the commitment of Iraqi soldiers and police, who he said had suffered over 300 casualties in the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, which is just ending. So far in October 88 US soldiers have died, the bloodiest month in almost a year.
COMMITMENT Khalilzad said Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other leaders had agreed to a timetable of progress on security and the economy, including changes to the constitution, disbanding militias and a new law on sharing the revenues from Iraq's massive oil reserves.
"They have committed themselves to a timeline for making some of those decisions that I have described," he said. "We will work with them as closely as possible so that they do meet those benchmarks."
He said radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the widely feared Mehdi Army militia, supported the government programme but that US officials had no direct contact with him and were relying on Maliki to deal with him. Khalilzad named the Mehdi Army among militia groups that Washington insisted must be disbanded.
Dominant Shia factions have shown no haste in disbanding their armed wings and most oppose changing a constitution agreed a year ago despite the opposition from minority Sunnis who fear regional autonomy laws will leave Shias and ethnic Kurds in control of most of the oil.
Bush has insisted the United States will not leave Iraq "until we get the job done", despite opinion polls suggesting Bush could lose control of both houses of the US Congress. "Iraqi leaders must step up to achieve key political milestones," Khalilzad said. "Key political forces must make difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reach agreement on a number of issues."
US military forces were searching for a missing US soldier on Tuesday. They said the soldier, a translator, may have been abducted. US forces backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters sealed the mixed neighbourhood of Karrada with checkpoints and conducted door-to-door searches.
"We are going to use all available resources - ground forces and aviation assets," a military spokesman said. A poll released by CNN on Monday said one in five Americans believed Washington was winning the war in Iraq, a figure halved since December. A similar number believe insurgents are winning, CNN said on its Web site. Nearly two thirds oppose the war.
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