Car bombs killed 23 people in Baghdad and three other Iraqi cities today but US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said a secure, stable country was within reach.
A car bomb near a Shia mosque in central Baghdad killed 15 people and wounded 35 as they gathered for evening prayers, making it the capital's deadliest bombing since September.
Gunfire could be heard and black smoke rose over the area after the blast in the mainly Shia Karrada district, just across the Tigris River from where Mr Gates met Iraqi officials in the heavily fortified "Green Zone" compound.
Elsewhere, captors holding five Britons in Iraq have demanded that Britain pull all its forces from the country.
The hostage takers posted a videotape showing a bearded, haggard-looking man more than six months after the group was kidnapped.
The man, speaking with a British accent, identified himself as "Jason" and gave the date as more than two weeks ago. He sat under a sign in Arabic identifying the captors as "The Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq."
"My name is Jason. Today is November 18th," he said, alternately glancing at the camera and downward. "I have been here now for 173 days, and I feel we have been forgotten." No other hostage was shown.
A written statement featured on the video, aired by Al-Arabiya television, accused Britain of plundering the wealth of Iraq and demanded that British troops leave within 10 days. It did not say what would happen if the deadline was not met or when the countdown begins.
The kidnapping took place May 29th, when about 40 gunmen in police uniforms and driving vehicles used by Iraqi security forces grabbed the four security contractors and a computer consultant from an Iraqi Finance Ministry compound.