US:Former CIA director Robert Gates has been sworn in as defence secretary amid growing controversy in Washington over a proposal to temporarily increase US troop levels in Iraq.
A number of military commanders and experts have advised president George Bush to send an extra 15,000 to 30,000 forces to Iraq in an effort to stem sectarian violence by crippling groups such as Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
White House spokesman Tony Snow yesterday declined to confirm that Mr Bush is considering a temporary surge in troop numbers as part of a change of course in Iraq that he will announce in the new year.
Mr Gates said he would travel to Iraq soon to consult with military commanders about the best course of action there.
"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. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come," he said.
Former secretary of state Colin Powell said on Sunday that last summer's surge of US troops to try to stabilise Baghdad failed and any new attempt is unlikely to succeed.
"If somebody proposes that additional troops be sent, if I was still chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, my first question . . . is what mission is it these troops are supposed to accomplish? . . . Is it something that is really accomplishable?
"Do we have enough troops to accomplish it?" he asked.
Mr Powell said that, instead of sending more troops, the US should start drawing down its forces in Iraq in the middle of 2007 and hand over responsibility for security to the Iraqi authorities.
He said he agreed with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that the situation in Iraq was grave and deteriorating and that a change of course was now an urgent necessity.
"We're not winning, we are losing. We haven't lost. And this is the time, now, to start to put in place the kinds of strategies that will turn this situation around," he said.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is a member of the Senate armed services committee, said she would oppose a surge in US troop numbers in Iraq. "I am not in favour of doing that unless it's part of a larger plan. I am not in favour of sending more troops to continue what our men and women have been told to do with the government of Iraq pulling the rug out from under them when they actually go after some of the bad guys," she said.
The Iraq Study Group has called for all US combat brigades to be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008, leaving US soldiers in Iraq as army trainers. The group also called for direct talks on the future of Iraq between the US, Iran and Syria.