A prominent US Republican senator has said President George W. Bush should start the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by Christmas to show the Baghdad government that the US commitment in Iraq is not open-ended.
The move puts John Warner, a former Navy secretary and one-time chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at odds with the president, who says conditions on the ground should dictate deployments.
Mr Warner's comments come only a day after the National Intelligence Estimate report on Iraq acknowledged that a political reconciliation in Iraq was unlikely in the next year.
It predicted the Iraqi government will become "more precarious" because of criticism from various sectarian groups.
Mr Warner said the troop withdrawals are needed because Iraqi leaders have failed to make substantial political progress, despite an influx of US troops initiated by Mr Bush this year.
The departure of even a small number of US service members would send a powerful message throughout the region that time was running out, Warner said.
"We simply cannot as a nation stand and continue to put our troops at continuous risk of loss of life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action," he said after meeting Bush aides.
Republicans have so far stuck with Mr Bush and rejected Democratic proposals demanding troops leave Iraq by a certain date.
But an increasing number of Republican party members have said they are uneasy about the war and want to see the president embrace a new strategy if substantial progress is not made by September.
Mr Warner said the president and not Congress should decide on a timetable for withdrawal.
He said he came to his conclusion on withdrawal after visiting Iraq this month and said he had serious concerns about the effectiveness of the current leadership in Baghdad.