Gates in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials
On his first visit to Iraq this year, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived Wednesday for two days of talks with senior government officials on the looming final withdrawal of American troops from a country still suffering from frequent insurgent violence eight years after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime.
Gates' meetings Thursday were to include a session with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has publicly insisted Iraq can handle its security without US troops beyond 2011. The bulk of the remaining 47,000 US troops are to begin going home in late summer or early fall, officials have said. (AP)
