Clinton: Troop Withdrawal Still on Schedule

April 25, 2009— -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprise trip to Iraq Saturday, and the top issue that dominated her agenda -- violence.

A week of heightened violence and bombing attacks have left close to 150 people dead and hundreds injured in Iraq. Suicide bombings have targeted mainly Shiite pilgrims from Iran, and they come at a vulnerable time when the U.S. is trying to draw down troops in Iraq. This week saw the single deadliest day in Iraq in more than a year.

This is Clinton's fourth trip to the country but the first in her current role. Her trip was intentionally kept secret for security reasons, given the dramatic uptick in violence this week. In Iraq, Clinton denounced the violent attacks.

"I condemn these violent recent efforts to disrupt the progress that Iraq is making," Clinton said at a press conference after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Violence was clearly a key issue of discussions in the secretary's meeting with U.S. commander in Iraq, Ray Odierno, and a number of Iraqi officials.

This month's 18 major attacks pale in comparison to the scores of attacks that were carried out during the worst period of the war in 2006 and 2007. But these recent bombings have made Iraqis jittery because they come at a time when the United States is withdrawing its forces from Iraq to meet the June 30 deadline.

In February, President Obama announced an 18-month drawdown of troops in Iraq, saying he would "responsibly end the war in Iraq."

Today, Clinton told reporters that the violence will not change the timetable that the Obama administration has set for withdrawal, even though General David Petraeus told Congress just yesterday that the progress is "fragile and reversible."

"The resilience of Al Qaeda in Iraq, though considerably diminished ... it retains the capability and it does retain the desire to re-establish its networks," he said.

But today, Clinton echoed Obama's words in saying that the withdrawal will proceed in a "responsible and careful way."

She said, "These events, tragic as they are, do not alter the context of continuing security progress."