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| US 'must suspend' Iraq withdrawal |
| The top US military leader in Iraq Gen David Petraeus has recommended a suspension of troop withdrawals after July to protect gains in Iraq
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 8-April-2008
10:19:15 AM |
| Gen Petraeus praised "significant" but "uneven" improvements in security and said troop levels would need a period of evaluation in the summer.
The general also condemned Iran for playing a "destructive role" in Iraq.
His comments came in a progress report on Iraq, which he and US ambassador Ryan Crocker are giving to Congress.
They began by testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
'Open-ended pause'
Gen Petraeus said security was better than the situation at the time of his last report to Congress in September and significantly better than before the start of the US troop surge at the beginning of last year.
But he said the situation "remains exceedingly complex and challenging".
He said there could be "a resurgence of al-Qaeda Iraq" or Shia groups might violate the ceasefire order of influential Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Ambassador Crocker added: "What has been achieved is substantial, but it is also reversible."
He said that "immense challenges remain and progress is uneven and often frustratingly slow, but there is progress".
The chairman of the committee, the Democrat Carl Levin, had anticipated the call for a suspension of the drawdown of troops.
Opening the hearing, he said an "open-ended pause from July" would be an "invitation to continuing dependency".
But Republican Senator John McCain said there was now a genuine chance of success in Iraq and that a withdrawal could result in a failure that might require the US to return later for a far more costly war.
"Our allies, Arab countries, the UN and the Iraqis themselves will not step up to their responsibilities if we recklessly retreat," he said.
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