Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned Tuesday it would be reckless to set a timeline for a final U.S.-troop pullout and said they would leave only once Iraqi forces are ready to defeat the insurgency on their own. A spate of slayings and fierce clashes between insurgents and Iraqi police left at least nine Iraqis dead in Baghdad on Tuesday, including a senior Iraqi judge, highlighting the grave security risks in the run-up to this weekend's elections.Also Tuesday, a video emerged showing an American abducted last November by gunmen in Baghdad pleading for his life and appealing to Arab rulers, especially Libya's Muammar Gadhafi, to intercede to spare his life.
Amid the violence, Allawi rejected setting a timeline for U.S. troops to leave until Iraqi forces can defeat the insurgency alone. "Others spoke about the immediate withdrawal or setting a timetable for the withdrawal of multinational forces," Allawi told reporters. "I will not deal with the security matter under political pretexts and exaggerations that do not serve Iraq and its people. I will not set final dates" for the withdrawal of international forces "because setting final dates will be futile and dangerous."