U.S. clock is ticking, Gates warns Iraqis

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on an unannounced trip to Iraq, delivered a sharp message to the country’s political leaders Thursday: The U.S. military’s commitment to the war is not open-ended.

“The clock is ticking,” Gates said, saying he will warn Iraqi officials that they must move faster on political reconciliation. “I know it’s difficult, and clearly the attack on the council of representatives has made people nervous, but I think that it’s very important that they bend every effort to getting this legislation done as quickly as possible.”

A suicide bomber infiltrated the parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone a week ago, dealing a blow to the U.S.-led effort to pacify the capital’s streets.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the violence in Baghdad an “open battle.”

Gates said the Iraqis must, as quickly as possible, push through legislation on political reconciliation and the sharing of oil revenues among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

“It’s not that these laws are going to change the situation immediately, but I think … the ability to get them done communicates a willingness to work together,” he said.

Those efforts, Gates said, would, in turn, create an environment in which violence could be reduced. But he acknowledged, “I’m sympathetic with some of the challenges that they face.”

Underscoring the urgency in controlling the violence, police said a suicide car bomber rammed into a fuel truck in central Baghdad only hours before Gates arrived, killing at least a dozen people.

“It is very important they make every effort to get this done as soon as possible,” Gates said, noting that the attack at the Iraqi parliament building made people particularly nervous.