Gates says stable Iraq within reach

IRAQ, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the goal of a stable and democratic Iraq is within reach, during an unannounced visit to Iraq marked by a spate of car bombs that killed 22 people.

"More than ever I believe the goal of a secure, stable and democratic Iraq is within reach," Gates told a news conference after holding a flurry of meetings with Iraqi leaders in the embattled capital. Just ahead of the conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, a powerful car bomb exploded in a busy street in a nearby suburb, killing 14 people and wounding 32, Iraqi security officials said.

The blast occurred near a Shiite mosque in Karrada neighbourhood when the streets were crowded with people, they said.

A car bomb exploded earlier at Mosul killing a civilian soon after Gates had jetted into the northern city from Kabul, where a suicide attacker on Wednesday slammed a bomb-filled car into an Afghan army bus killing at least 16 people.

Car bombs also exploded in the centre of the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, killing five people while a fourth attack targeted the oil hub of Kirkuk, where a car bomb killed two people. Gates told reporters in Baghdad that he and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had discussed "a range of issues affecting the future of Iraq."

"There has been a dramatic change in the security situation across the nation," the defence secretary said, pointing to the fact that violence levels were the lowest in two years, "a substantial number" of refugees had returned and some 70,000 Iraqis had joined US forces in fighting against Al-Qaeda.

"One of the main reasons of my visit is to see how we can best work together not only to sustain the momentum of recent months but to build upon it," Gates said.

Iraqis who have chosen to fight against Al-Qaeda need to be integrated into the security forces or provided with job opportunities, he added.

"We need to be patient and also need to be absolutely resolved in our desire to see the nascent signs of hope across Iraq expand and flourish so that all Iraqis can enjoy peace and prosperity." Gates's visit comes 10 days after US President George W. Bush and Maliki agreed on a long-term American military presence in Iraq that would go beyond 2008.

"The Maliki government took a critical step by signing with us a declaration of principles that sets a stage for future US-Iraqi cooperation," Gates said, hailing the accord. In a separate statement Maliki said he told Gates that Iraq's security forces were now at an "advanced stage" of development.

"I assured that our armed forces had reached an advanced stage and have proved their high ability in facing terrorists and outlaws," Maliki said.

Maliki also said the accord with Washington to keep American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 would go a long way in training Iraqi forces further and give them "a bigger chance of taking the matter in their hands."

Iraqi Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed who also addressed the news conference with Gates, said during the talks with his counterpart he stressed the need to develop a sophisticated Iraqi army.

In Mosul where he landed, Gates met top American military commanders who briefed him about the situation along the Iraq-Turkey border, where the Turkish army is pursuing Kurdish rebels, and also in Mosul and the restive province of Diyala.

Baghdad, AFP