SecDef Gates warns Iraqis: "The clock is ticking"

From the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq Thursday to warn Iraqi leaders that the U.S. commitment to a military buildup there is not open-ended...."I would like to see faster progress," he said, adding that momentum by the Iraqi government on political reconciliation as well as legislation on sharing oil revenue would "begin the process to send a message that the leaders are beginning to work together." He said that, in turn, would create an environment in which violence could be reduced.

As the AP press noted: "The four bombings throughout Baghdad that killed 183 people was the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago."

As to who exactly carried out the market bombing in Bagdhad that left some 140 people dead, the AP quoted a U.S. military spokesman who said that initial intelligence points ot al Qaeda. As the AP went on to say:

The attacks appeared to be yet another attempt by Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda to force Shiite militiamen back onto the streets. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr had ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to put away their weapons and go underground before the security crackdown began, leaving regions like those bombed on Wednesday highly vulnerable.

U.S. officials have reported a decrease in sectarian killings in Baghdad since the U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown was launched Feb. 14. But the past week has seen several spectacular attacks in the capital, including a suicide bombing inside parliament and a powerful blast that collapsed a landmark bridge across the Tigris River. The number of bodies dumped in the streets of Baghdad also has risen significantly.

An Iraqi military spokesman told the AP that 95 percent of those killed yesterday were civilians.