The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

Democratic White House rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Monday rejected the notion of pausing US troop drawdowns in Iraq, floated earlier in Baghdad by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Obama said the United States should not be expected to fight a war without end in Iraq, while Clinton said it was time to get US forces out of the middle of a "civil war."

The comments came as the senators fought an intense neck- and-neck battle for the presidential nomination in a party which is vehemently opposed to the war, and President George W. Bush's troop surge strategy implemented last year. "I strongly disagree with the administration's plans to 'pause' the long overdue removal of our combat brigades from Iraq," Obama said in a statement. "We cannot wage war without end in Iraq while ignoring mounting costs to our troops and their families, our security and our economy. "While the administration puts our drawdown on permanent pause, (Osama) bin Laden is on the loose, Afghanistan is sliding toward chaos, and we're spending billions of dollars a week in Baghdad instead of helping Americans who are struggling here at home."

Obama called for a rapid and responsible removal of combat brigades, to relieve the burden on the US military and pressure Iraqi governing factions to reconcile.

Clinton said she was "disheartened" by the remarks made by Gates, after he met the US commander in the country General David Petraeus.

"This means that we will have as many troops in Iraq in the summer of 2008 as we had at the beginning of 2007," Clinton said. "I continue to call on the President to end the war he started, to take responsibility for bringing our young men and women home."

"I will continue to press hard, both in the Congress and on the campaign trail for this President to end this war before he leaves office."

Clinton has said that if elected, she will start withdrawing US forces from Iraq within 60 days, and tell the Iraqi government it does not have a "blank cheque" and needs to take immediate steps towards political reconciliation.

Gates earlier said in Baghdad that a brief period of "consolidation and evaluation" made sense after around 30,000 soldiers had been brought home in July. He said the security situation in Baghdad remained "fragile," a comment echoed on the streets of the capital which was rocked by two car bombings that left 19 people dead just as he was winding up his surprise trip to Iraq. "I think that the notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," he told reporters after a two-hour meeting with Petraeus.

"I must say, in my own thinking, I am headed in that direction as well but one of the keys is how long is that period and what happens after that. It still has to be determined and decided by the president."

The 157,000-strong US force in the insurgency-wracked country is currently on track to come down from 19 brigades to 15 by July, a reduction of at least 20,000 troops plus another 7,000 to 10,000 members of support units, according to military commanders in Iraq.