DPA
Thursday, January 11, 2007

Washington- The US military has not set a time limit on how long the troop increase in Iraq will last, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

"It's really hard to say at this point. It's viewed as a temporary surge, but I think no one has a really clear idea of how long that might be," Gates said in a press conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

President George W Bush announced Wednesday that he was ordering an increase of more than 20,000 troops to Iraq as part of a revised strategy aimed at halting the violence and prevailing in the conflict.

Gates and Rice met with reporters to discuss Bush's new strategy that includes placing pressure on the Iraqi government to meet obligations to halt the sectarian violence and take steps toward national reconciliation.

"It is the Iraqis who are responsible for what kind of country Iraq will be," Rice said. "It is they who must decide whether Iraq will be characterized by national unity or sectarian conflict."

Gates said the United States will be closely watching to see whether the Iraqis forces follow through on plans to streamline the command structure in Baghdad and begin enforcing the laws independently of sectarian politics.

"We're going to know pretty early on whether the Iraqis are meeting their military commitments, in terms of being able to go into all neighbourhoods," Gates said.

Bush also announced plans to boost the reconstruction effort, pour more money into Iraq and to appoint a coordinator in Baghdad to oversee the rebuilding effort with the Iraqi government.

Rice said that post will be filled by Tim Carney, the former US ambassador to Hair who has "enormous experience in post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction and development."