Jaafari in Washington amid debate on US withdrawal timetable

The Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Friday met with the US president George W. Bush. Al-Jafaari renewed his rejection to set a timetable for the withdrawal of the multi national forces from Iraq, considering that it would be a mistake to announce such a date.

In press statements al-Jafari said he wishes that the American forces will withdraw as soon as possible, but he indicated that the deteriorated security conditions and what he described the inability of the Iraqis to control matters require the continued presence of foreign forces.

The Iraqi prime minister notified members of the US congress that he intends to visit Syria to alleviate tensions between the two states. Simultaneously, he urged Washington to continue pressure on Damascus to prevent the infiltration of what he called fighters via its borders with Iraq.

American officials were quoted as saying that the international pressure helped to force Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and that he believes a similar campaign for the sake of Iraq would force Syria to improve security conditions through the borders.

Worth noting, that President Bush has stated that setting a deadline for US troop withdrawal would encourage the insurgency. This comes as calls grow for setting such a date, with more congressman speaking out about this issue amid reported polls that give about 37% support for the US president on his Iraq policy.

This comes as US Vice President Dick Cheney defended his statement to that the insurgency in Iraq is in its last days. A statement which raised criticism that the White House is exaggerating in its optimism. Cheney considered that a progress was achieved in the political process in Iraq and in the training of the Iraqi security forces. He said that when democracy is consolidated, what he called the rebellion will be destroyed, expecting that the next coming months will be more difficult.

On the other hand, the commander of the central leadership Gen. John AbiZaid refused to support Cheney's estimates, considering that the force of the gunmen has not diminished and that more foreign fighters enter Iraq at a rate that exceeds what it had been six months before.

For his part m the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused during his testimony before the armed forces committee at the Senate, confirmations made by the democratic senate Edward Kennedy who described the situation in Iraq as "a quagmire." Rumsfeld considered that drawing a schedule for the withdrawal of the American forces from this country is a mistake and that such schedule will give what he called terrorists encouragement.

Bush said that scheduling the withdrawal from Iraq means admitting defeat before what he called terrorists, noting that the mission of the coalition forces lies in training the Iraqi forces to carry out all security tasks. He added that the real time schedule for the situation in Iraq is the formulation of the Iraqi constitution and organizing a people's referendum over it at the set time and organizing elections in line with set requirements.

However, the American president admitted the difficult situation in Iraq. He is expected to deliver an important speech about Iraq next Tuesday.