Viable U.S. exit from Iraq still a long way off

The Shiites -- which won the December 2005 election -- finally came to power after being ruled by the Sunni minority for decades. The Kurds in the north are seeking autonomy and a share of power in the central government.

Iraqi lawmakers are considering an oil law to divide the country's oil and gas profits among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to achieve national reconciliation.

The Iraqi security forces have not been capable of maintaining social order on their own, not to mention preventing the country from sliding toward a civil war.

Last year, the United States raised its troop commitment to Iraq above 160,000, the highest level since the invasion, and finally began to see the war's death toll dropping.

Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, when the troop build-up was completed.

Though the surge was strongly opposed by the Democrats, the nation seemed to have been left little choice.

In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, the Iraq war has become a major debate topic.

The Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both pledged to withdraw U.S. troops at a rate of one or two brigades a month. But analysts believe their words were just words.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has secured his candidacy in the Republican camp, visited Baghdad on March 16-17.

McCain stressed it was important to maintain the U.S. commitment in Iraq, where a U.S.-Iraq military operation is under way to clear al-Qaida from its last urban stronghold of Mosul, 360km northwest of Baghdad.

McCain said during campaigning in the United States last week that the quickest way to bring the war to an end was by continuing the troop surge.

"I believe the American people will have the patience to see this through," McCain said. (Li Bo)

Editor:Zhang Pengfei