‘Iraq plan timing driven by politics’

Clinton said there were ‘‘several dangers in this plan and in this timetable. No one has emerged who will provide a unifying presence for transition’’. She also said it is unclear how the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, such as Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds, can be protected. ‘‘We face the danger of raising false expectations that next summer, Iraq will be sovereign,’’ Clinton said. ‘‘That seems hard to imagine.’’

Clinton spoke to reporters after spending Friday and Saturday in Iraq, visiting soldiers and speaking with military commanders and civilian leaders. Clinton and Reed, a former Army Captain, are on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Bush, in a surprise visit to soldiers in Baghdad on Thursday, said US forces would ‘‘stay until the job is done’’. The administration projects reducing the number of US troops from 130,000 to 105,000, and keeping them in the country as ‘‘guests’’.

‘‘The President has said on many occasions that the US is going to stay and finish the job and to accomplish the mission of providing a free, democratic, sovereign and prosperous Iraq that is governed by the Iraqi people,’’ White House spokesman Trent Duffy said last Monday. ‘‘The decision as to timetables and the like are governed principally by accomplishing that mission.’’

Clinton called the June 30 transfer-of-power date ‘‘an artificial deadline’’, and said, ‘‘We have to be prepared for a longer run to accomplish our goals than we’ve been discussing’’. ‘‘We cannot let our own elections or other priorities interfere it,’’ she added.(LAT-WP)