Success in Iraq possible, say US officials

Top US officials in Baghdad on Tuesday said Iraqi forces should be “completely capable” of taking responsibility for security within 18 months. The assertion came as Republican support for the White House strategy on Iraq continued to erode just two weeks ahead of November’s congressional elections.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador, and General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, in a rare joint press conference, delivered a unified message: that, despite the images of daily carnage in Baghdad, success was still possible.

In a sign of the growing violence in Baghdad, however, Gen Casey acknowledged that he may have to request more troops. US commanders have previously said they would ask for more soldiers if necessary. But the comments come at a sensitive time for the White House, as October shapes up to be one of the deadliest months for the US military in Iraq.

Reflecting increased pessimism among Republicans that the Iraq war could cost them control of one or both houses of Congress, the White House on Monday said President George W. Bush would no longer use the phrase “stay the course”.

Mr Khalilzad emphasised that the US goal of bringing democracy to Iraq had not changed. He said Iraqi leaders had agreed to develop a timeline of progress on both security and economic issues, including changes to the constitution and disbanding militias.

“They have committed themselves to a timetable for making some of those decisions,” said Mr Khalilzad, adding that he expected significant progress in the coming 12 months.

Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser, on Tuesday said the Iraqi government needed to act more quickly to help improve the situation in the country, although he warned that violence would continue for some time.

“The violence is going to go on for a long time,” Mr Hadley told National Public Radio. “But what you hope for is a situation where Iraqi government institutions and Iraqi security forces can manage and contain the violence”.

In the latest sign of Republican disatisfaction with the White House, Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican senator and strong supporter of the war, on Tuesday said “We’re on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working.”

Gen Casey dismissed suggestions - most recently by Republican senator Arlen Specter - that Iraq had descended into civil war, insisting that 80 to 90 per cent of the sectarian violence happened in a 30-mile radius of the centre of Baghdad.

The attempt to win back the debate over Iraq comes as the loss of faith in the war reached new highs among the American and British public. A recent CNN poll found that a record 64 per cent of Americans now oppose the conflict.

Officials and analysts in the Middle East have been warning for months that Iraq has been gradually sliding into an uncontrollable civil war, as killings by Shia militias escalate at a faster pace than attacks by Sunni insurgents. Last week, Iraqi Shia and Sunni clerics were invited to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to sign a declaration forbidding the shedding of Muslim blood.

The White House has been increasingly forced on to the back foot over Iraq since John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate armed services committee, who has been a strong backer of the administration, recently said the situation in Iraq was going “sideways”, before warning last weekend that the violence was getting worse.

James Baker, the former secretary of state and Bush family confidante who is leading a bipartisan commission on US policy in Iraq, recently prompted speculation that the White House would gradually move towards a new policy by suggesting that “stay the course” and “cut and run” were not the only two options for Iraq.

The growing doubts about Iraq policy were also aggravated by revelations that the US was increasingly frustrated by the performance of the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki, which had failed to follow through on moves towards national reconciliation with the Sunni minority and was resisting tough action against the Shia militias.