Iraq agrees timeline to peace, US says

BAGHDAD - Iraqi leaders have assured the United States they will stick to a timetable of measures over the next year to curb violence and allow US troops to go home, Washington's top officials in Iraq said on Tuesday.

Two weeks ahead of US congressional elections that have put President Bush's Republicans on the defensive over their Iraq strategy, the US ambassador and military commander in Baghdad told voters directly via a rare joint news conference that success was still possible, and on a "realistic timetable".

Insisting sectarian bloodshed had not caused Washington to water down its goal of a stable, democratic Iraq, envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said he expected Iraqi leaders to make "significant progress in the coming 12 months" in meeting "benchmarks".

He did not refer to any deadline nor spell out any US response if the Shi'ite-led coalition failed to rein in violence, some of it by pro-government militias, or to address concerns among minority Sunnis over sharing Iraq's oil wealth.

"Iraqi leaders must step up to achieve key political and security milestones on which they have agreed," Khalilzad said.

"They have committed themselves to a timeline for making some of those decisions," he added. "We will work with them as closely as possible so that they do meet those benchmarks."

Bush insists the United States must stay to stabilise Iraq - whose fate Khalilzad insisted was vital to American security - but many critics now want a deadline for US withdrawal.

General George Casey, who commands 140,000 US troops still in Iraq despite hopes early this year that a pullout might be under way by election time, again forecast Iraqis would be able to handle most tasks in 12 to 18 months, with some US support.

But he also did not rule out calling in US reinforcements in the near term as he adjusted tactics in response to continued death squad killings and insurgent attacks that have killed 90 Americans so far this month, the bloodiest in almost a year.

The deaths of three more Americans were announced on Tuesday and a US military translator of Iraqi descent was feared abducted, prompting a massive search operation in Baghdad.

"The American people know that this is very important but the recent sectarian bloodshed in Iraq causes many to question whether the United States can succeed," Khalilzad said.

"Despite the difficult challenges we face, success in Iraq is possible ... on a realistic timetable."

Iraqi officials, marking holidays for the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, had no comment. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's unity government issued a statement on Monday saying its forces would crack down on illegal armed groups.

Six months after Maliki took office, with vital support from Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, such pledges have yet to curb activity by militias, like Sadr's Mehdi Army, which Khalilzad singled out as needing to be "brought under control".

Many militia supporters have joined Iraq's new, US trained forces.

Casey and Khalilzad cautioned that US and Iraqi forces faced a tough task against enemies that included not just Sunni al Qaeda militants but also Shi'ite Iran and the Syrian leadership.

Both men used strong language to decry "decidedly unhelpful" and "cynical" policies pursued by Iraq's two neighbours.

The event was broadcast on US television, although a power cut, far from uncommon in Iraq, briefly blacked out the room.

Casey said he planned unspecified tactical changes to curb sectarian bloodshed claiming hundreds of lives a week, notably in Baghdad, where Shi'ites 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 Iraqi forces is a key part of Bush's plan to withdraw American troops from an increasingly unpopular war: "It will take another 12 to 18 months until Iraqi security forces have the capability to take over all security," Casey said.

He praised the commitment of Iraqi soldiers and police, who he said suffered over 300 dead during Ramadan. But he insisted: "This is not a country that is awash in sectarian violence."

US and Iraqi troops mounted door-to-door searches, set up roadblocks and flew helicopter sorties over the capital in the hunt for the missing translator.

The military said he left a US base in the city centre's Green Zone on Monday to visit a relative and was snatched by armed men who handcuffed him and bundled him into a car. The missing soldier was not named.

- REUTERS