Iraq prepares for a pullout by US military

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's military is drawing up plans to cope with any quick US military pullout, the defense minister said yesterday, as a senior American official warned that the Bush administration might reconsider its support if Iraqi leaders do not make major reforms by fall.

The US official did not say what actions could be taken by the White House, but his comments reflected the administration's need to show results in Iraq as an answer to pressure by the Democrats in Congress seeking to set timetables on the US military presence.

Several mortar shells hit the US-controlled Green Zone, one striking the Iraqi Parliament building but causing no casualties -- the latest in near daily barrages on the nerve center of the US mission and Iraqi government that underline the country's tenuous security.

At least 58 Iraqis were killed by attacks or found dead across Iraq, including seven people ambushed on a bus northeast of Baghdad, police said. The dead included 24 men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found across Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

British troops clashed with Shi'ite gunmen in the southern city of Basra. Britain's military said one British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a supply convoy was attacked in the center of the city, Iraq's second biggest.

Elsewhere, US troops raided safe houses south of Baghdad but failed to find three soldiers missing since a May 12 ambush that left four other Americans and an Iraqi dead.

"We've [identified] some safe houses and we targeted a couple of those today and they were able to slip away from us. But we're going to come at things from a different angle," a US spokesman, Major Webster Wright, said without elaborating.

US officers said the search by thousands of US and Iraqi soldiers might be forcing the kidnappers to move the three Americans frequently, preventing insurgents from posting pictures of their captives on the Internet.

"We choose to be cautiously optimistic," Major General Rick Lynch told CNN. "We're pursuing all leads with a passion, but right now we believe our soldiers are still alive. Each day that passes when we don't see proof of life, it causes us concern."

With violence raging, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to demonstrate progress on key reforms or risk losing American support for the unpopular war.

Yesterday Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told reporters Iraq's military was drawing up plans in case US-led forces left the country quickly.

"The army plans on the basis of a worst-case scenario so as not to allow any security vacuum," Obeidi said. "There are meetings with political leaders on how we can deal with a sudden pullout."

It was unclear whether Obeidi's comment referred to routine contingency planning or reflected a feeling among Iraqi leaders that the days of US support may be numbered even though President Bush blocked an effort by Congress to set a withdrawal timetable.

A White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, said President Bush expressed confidence in Maliki during a telephone call yesterday to the Iraqi leader.

He said the two talked about political progress in Iraq, and Maliki gave Bush updates on two key US demands -- legislation to share Iraq's oil wealth among its regions and ethnic groups, and a reform of the constitution.

But two senior Iraqi officials told the Associated Press that Bush warned Maliki that Washington expected to see "tangible results quickly" on the oil bill and other legislation as the price for continued support.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't supposed to release the information.

Senior Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman confirmed that US pressure was mounting, especially on the oil bill, which was endorsed by the Iraqi Cabinet three months ago but has yet to come to the floor of parliament.

"The Americans are pressuring us to accept the oil law. Their pressure is very strong. They want to show Congress that they have done something so they want the law to be adopted this month. This interference is negative and will have consequences," Othman told the AP.