Just two days after being sworn in as new US defence secretary, Robert Gates arrived in Baghdad today to meet US commanders and see for himself the war that he says America is neither winning nor losing.
US defence secretary, Robert Gates
The visit by the 63-year-old former CIA director follows a new Pentagon report that said violence in Iraq was at an all- time high and as US casualties creep closer to the 3,000 mark.
US President George W. Bush is expected to announce a new US strategy for Iraq early in the new year.
Mr Gates declared on Monday that failure in Iraq "would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come".
"All of us want to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home again. But, as the president has made clear, we simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East," Mr Gates said.
At his Senate confirmation hearings, Mr Gates said the United States was not winning in Iraq, but it was not losing either, a comment echoed by Mr Bush in an interview this week with the Washington Post.
Mr Bush has been seeking advice about a new plan for Iraq from military officials, the State Department and others in and out of government. He is weighing a short-term US troop increase in Iraq as one of a number of options he is exploring, the White House said yesterday.