Defense Secretary Gates met Thursday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, pictured, but Gates' meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was canceled.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki canceled a planned meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday after being summoned by Iraqi lawmakers to discuss a huge bombing in the capital earlier this week.

Gates did not consider the missed meeting a "snub," his spokesman said, but called off a planned press briefing as a result.

"The prime minister has to be accountable to the legislature, especially in wake of this type of attack, and the secretary looks forward to rescheduling the meeting - hopefully tomorrow," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, according to a pool report.

At least 127 people died in a string of five suicide car bombings in Baghdad Tuesday, and 448 were wounded. A group linked to al Qaeda said it carried out the attacks.

"The bombings are a tragic reminder it's not over yet. There is still work to be done. And this fight has to be carried out on a continuing basis," Gates told Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the presidential council, according to Morrell. Reporters were not allowed into the meeting.

Al-Maliki, meanwhile, was being pressed by Iraqi lawmakers on the security situation in the country, according to a member of parliament who was present at the closed session.

The prime minister characterized the large-scale attack as "a security breach, not a security deterioration," lawmaker Abdulbari al-Zebari told CNN.

Many parliament members asked al-Maliki about the infiltration of the security forces by members of the banned Ba'ath party - the party of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Al-Maliki expressed concerns about the way militias were incorporated into the government's security forces, and was pressed on whether some former militia members are slipping into the insurgency, Zebari said.

The U.S. defense secretary arrived in Iraq Thursday after ending a two-day trip to Afghanistan.

There, Gates told Afghan soldiers that America will maintain a presence in their country beyond the troop pullout set to begin in 2011.

"While we hope to transfer power in July 2011, we will have a large number of forces here for some time beyond that," Gates told the group at Kabul airport. "This is the first time in Afghan history when foreign forces are here to help, and we intend to be your partner for a long time."

Gates called the relationship between the two countries one "forged in blood" because of the heavy casualties that American and Afghan troops have suffered while battling a resurgent Taliban.

"We recognize your challenges," he said. "Our troops have made sacrifices also. So this is a relationship forged in blood. We will see it through together."

Afghan officials thanked Gates for U.S. President Barack Obama's new plan for Afghanistan, which involves the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops.

They also expressed relief over Gates' pledge for troops to stay beyond 2011.

–CNN's Yousif Bassil contributed to this report.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq on Thursday after ending a two-day trip to Afghanistan.

He was expected to meet with Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani.

Gates also is expected to offer condolences in the Tuesday bombings that killed nearly 130 people, according to Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

In Afghanistan, Gates told Afghan soldiers that America will maintain a presence in the war-ravaged nation beyond the troop pullout set to begin in 2011.

"While we hope to transfer power in July 2011, we will have a large number of forces here for some time beyond that," Gates told the group at Kabul airport. "This is the first time in Afghan history when foreign forces are here to help, and we intend to be your partner for a long time."

Gates called the relationship between the two countries one "forged in blood" because of the heavy casualties that American and Afghan troops have suffered while battling a resurgent Taliban.

"We recognize your challenges," he said. "Our troops have made sacrifices also. So this is a relationship forged in blood. We will see it through together."

Afghan officials thanked Gates for U.S. President Barack Obama's new plan for Afghanistan, which involves the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops.

They also expressed relief over Gates' pledge for troops to stay beyond 2011.

Updated: 5:20 p.m. with full interview footage

TOPICS: Afghanistan, Iraq

Full results (pdf)

Half of the people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say they'd support such a decision, with 49 percent opposed.

But support for a troop buildup of that size is greater than the 45 percent of the public who support the war in Afghanistan. The survey indicates that 52 percent oppose the war.

"The war is unpopular and previous polls have shown that Americans oppose sending more troops in the abstract," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But it may be a different story when Americans are confronted with an actual decision, by the Commander-in-chief, on a military matter. Previous presidents have seen a 'rally effect' - at least temporarily - when they have made command decisions like this one."

The poll's Tuesday morning release comes just hours after Obama met Monday night with his national security team on Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. This was the ninth meeting of the president's war council to consider whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by the U.S. commander on the ground there.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that Obama won't announce his decision on a troop deployment this week, saying that the "first possible time would be sometime next week."

Sources told CNN that one option presented to Obama calls for sending about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in addition to the 68,000 already committed to the country, with other options involving variations of that plan.

According to the poll, if the president decides to send a smaller number of troops than 34,000, 56 percent would oppose the move, with just over four in 10 backing the decision.

"Support for a smaller troop buildup drops most among Republicans," Holland notes. "They appear most wary of doing things by half-measures in Afghanistan."

The survey also indicates that two-thirds of Americans say things are going badly for the U.S. in Afghanistan. That's up 11 points from March, when 55 percent said things were going bad.

People questioned in the poll were also asked about the war in Iraq. Opposition to that conflict remains high, with 62 percent saying they oppose the war. But 57 percent say sending more troops into Iraq in 2007, known as the "surge," was a success.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted November 13-15, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Full results (pdf)

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

President Barack Obama said U.S.-Iraqi ties are entering a new period.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said U.S.-Iraqi ties are entering a new period, a change marked by a decreased emphasis on security and an increased focus on the economy.

Appearing before reporters Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - in Washington to attend the two-day Iraq Investment and Business Conference and meet with American officials - Obama said the men discussed a wide-range of issues and didn't fixate on security or the military.

"What is wonderful about this trip is that it represents a transition in our bilateral relationship, so that we are moving now to issues beyond security and we are beginning to talk about economy, trade, commerce," the president said.

Obama cited Iraq's "continuing progress," strides on investment and "a commitment to democratic politics." He also cited the election legislation delayed in Iraq's parliament because of disagreement on several issues. The scheduled January 16 parliamentary elections might not be held if legislation isn't passed soon.

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Obama discusses security, elections with Iraqi president.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama spoke with his Iraqi counterpart on Monday and Tuesday, addressing upcoming elections and the security situation in the battered Mideast nation, the White House said.

The White House said Obama spoke with Talabani by phone on Monday and stopped by Talabani's meeting on Tuesday with National Security Adviser General Jim Jones.

Obama passed along his appreciation for Talabani's efforts in promoting national unity, fostering leadership, and working to adopt an election law, the White House said.

Obama underscored the U.S. commitment in helping Iraq "promote security, political progress, and economic development." They spoke about an upcoming conference Oct. 20 and 21 - the U.S.-Iraq Business and Investment Conference in Washington, the White House said.

Talabani's office said the White House meeting on Tuesday included discussions on U.S. troop withdrawal plans, the January legislative elections and the promotion of American investment in Iraq, particularly in the oil, gas and mineral industries.

Dozens of protesters were arrested after they gathered in front of the White House to call for the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As the war in Afghanistan nears the start of its ninth year, a group of anti-war protesters gathered in front of the White House today to express their disappointment that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not yet over, and to request a meeting with President Obama.

An estimated 500 people from different anti-war groups gathered on the sidewalk in front of the White House. A few chained themselves to the fence, some laid down on the sidewalk as if they were dead, and others chanted: "mourn the dead, heal the wounded, end the war!"

The protest was peaceful, though U.S. Park Police said that 61 people were arrested for failure to obey a lawful order after the crowd was repeatedly asked to move back from the sidewalk. According to Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser, all were cited and released.

Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, was among the protestors, and was one of those who were arrested. She said she had not been a supporter of President Obama or of Sen. John McCain during last year's election but said protestors were running out of patience. "I think the mood of the country and the mood of our movement is getting a little bit more desperate, and (that) this will be the time to be able to translate our tireless activism and work for peace," she said.

Sheehan added that President Obama has been in office long enough to start working towards peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that his supporters want him to make those changes.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that neither he nor the president were aware of the protest until it was mentioned in the daily briefing to the press, adding: "I think the president has long believed that whether your opinion is on one side of this issue or the other, that this is the greatness of our country, is that you get to amplify that opinion."

Dozens of protesters were arrested after they gathered in front of the White House to call for the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As the war in Afghanistan nears the start of its ninth year, a group of anti-war protesters gathered in front of the White House today to express their disappointment that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not yet over, and to request a meeting with President Obama.

An estimated 500 people from different anti-war groups gathered on the sidewalk in front of the White House. A few chained themselves to the fence, some laid down on the sidewalk as if they were dead, and others chanted: "mourn the dead, heal the wounded, end the war!"

The protest was peaceful, though U.S. Park Police said that 61 people were arrested for failure to obey a lawful order after the crowd was repeatedly asked to move back from the sidewalk. According to Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser, all were cited and released.

Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, was among the protestors, and was one of those who were arrested. She said she had not been a supporter of President Obama or of Sen. John McCain during last year's election but said protestors were running out of patience. "I think the mood of the country and the mood of our movement is getting a little bit more desperate, and (that) this will be the time to be able to translate our tireless activism and work for peace," she said.

Sheehan added that President Obama has been in office long enough to start working towards peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that his supporters want him to make those changes.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that neither he nor the president were aware of the protest until it was mentioned in the daily briefing to the press, adding: "I think the president has long believed that whether your opinion is on one side of this issue or the other, that this is the greatness of our country, is that you get to amplify that opinion."

Gloria Borger says President Obama faces a political problem of his own making on Afghanistan.

(CNN) – Sometimes, even in Washington, there's no way around a central truth: that in governing, there are moments when real, tough decisions must be made. No waffling. None of the usual "on the one hand, on the other hand." No hiding behind the votes cast by others.

There is one vote, and it belongs to the president.

It was that way with George W. Bush in December 2006, when, after conferring for three months with his generals and his Cabinet - not to mention the advice offered by the pooh-bahs in the Iraq Study Group - he decided on a surge strategy in Iraq. It was not a plan highly touted by many of his advisers, but by January, Bush told the nation "America will change our strategy ... [and] this will require increasing American force levels."

As it turns out, the surge worked.

Full Story

Mitt Romney says he wants to return to Iraq & Afghanistan.

(CNN) – Mitt Romney says he wants to return to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eric Fehrnstrom, an adviser for the the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate, tells CNN that "we are working through the appropriate channels to make this happen."

"I'm going to Afghanistan and Iraq in a couple of months," Romney declared in an interview published Sunday in the Washington Examiner. "I'll get an assessment of what's happening there and what the prospects are. But I certainly would support our troops with the additional troops which are being called for by General McChrystal, and provide the equipment and the manpower and the budgetary support which our troops deserve."

McChrystal is the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. He said Sunday that he wants more troops and a new strategy - but most importantly, he wants to win the battle for the hearts and the minds of the people in the war-torn country.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Sunday that the administration is in the process of evaluating its Afghanistan strategy, and once it is confident the strategy is right, it will address the question of additional resources.

Romney, along with two other governors, visited Iraq and Afghanistan in May of 2006, as part of a Department of Defense sponsored trip.

This past weekend Romney, who may make another run at the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, had sharp words for President Barack Obama's handling of foreign relations. At the biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island Michigan, Romney said that the president is "above" the world stage and acting too much as a "neutral arbiter" who uses only words to tell other nations what's right and what's wrong.

The previous weekend, Romney also criticized Obama on national security matters at the Value Voters Summit, an annual gathering of social conservatives held in the nation's capitol.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee responded Sunday to recent criticism from former White House hopeful Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, has lately suggested that the proper course for the United States to pursue in Afghanistan is to beef up the country’s own army and police forces before planning on sending in any additional American troops.

At a hearing of the Armed Services Committee last week, McCain took direct aim at Levin’s approach.

“Despite our successes in Iraq and the hard won understanding we have gained about what it takes to defeat an insurgency,” McCain said on Capitol Hill last Tuesday, “it seems we now, regrettably, must have the same debate again today with respect to Afghanistan. In all due respect, Sen. Levin, I’ve seen that movie before.”

“It’s a very different movie,” Levin said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, in response to McCain’s recent remarks.

Levin told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that the U.S. is seeing some success in Iraq because the military succeeded in winning over insurgents who had been attacking American soldiers and destabilizing Iraqi society. “That’s what we need to also do in Afghanistan. That is a very big difference.”

As in Iraq, however, Levin noted that the U.S. military in Afghanistan is changing its strategy in dealing with the local population. “Instead of just trying to attack the insurgents, we were protecting the population. That new strategy is now in place in Afghanistan. So, this is a very different movie from Iraq. They’re two very different places.”

Levin also said Sunday that the Iraqi army does not enjoy the level of public confidence that the Afghan army has with the local population.

In an interview that also aired Sunday on State of the Union, President Obama said he was working with his military and national security advisers to develop his administration’s strategy for continued U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.

"I think that what we have to do is get the right strategy, and then I think we've got to have some clear benchmarks, [a] matrix of progress," Obama told King about the war-torn country.

"I don't want to put the resource question before the strategy question," Obama also said. "Because there is a natural inclination to say, if I get more, then I can do more. But right now, the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?"

Also on State of the Union Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the president generally had the support of Senate Republicans for what the Obama administration has been doing in Afghanistan. But McConnell expressed concern about an apparent delay in making available to Congress troop level recommendations from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

“We’d like to see Gen. McChrystal and Gen. [David] Petraeus come up to Congress like they did during the Iraq [war’s] surge and give us the information about what they’re recommending. We think the time for decision is now,” McConnell said, adding that if Obama ultimately decided on a change in strategy in Afghanistan or on adding additional troops, the White House would have the support of Senate Republicans.

Admiral Mullen expressed concern Sunday about recent violence in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The bloody attacks in Iraq last week have raised concerns over a renewal sectarian violence, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.

Interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union," Adm. Mike Mullen said he is "extremely concerned" about recent bombings. More than 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in a series of truck bombings in Baghdad on August 19.

It was was the deadliest day since the United States pulled its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns nearly two months ago and left security in the hands of the Iraqis. And it raised fears of a renewal of destabilizing Sunni-Shiite violence that raged a few years ago in Iraq.

"The key is whether this is an indicator of future sectarian violence," Mullen said. "And certainly, many of us believe that one way that this can come unwound is through sectarian violence."

Mullen said U.S. and Iraqi leadership is "focused" on dealing with such violence.

"We have not seen a lot of this really until last week. And we've seen some positive signs up north, where possibilities existed before, but it's something we're all very, very mindful of and watching very carefully," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported the death of a U.S. soldier on Sunday in Baghdad, where he succumbed from combat-related injuries while conducting a patrol, the U.S. military said.

Roland Rochester says he's confident President Obama will handle the Iraq and Afghanistan wars well.

PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) - President Obama will take a brief hiatus from his health care push on Monday and turn his focus to the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan.

Obama will address the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix, Arizona, where he'll talk about where the United States stands in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the impact the men and women of the Armed Forces have had in those countries and the United States' responsibilities to maintain the world's finest military, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Nearly 13,000 VFW and ladies auxiliary delegates are expected to be at the convention, where veterans have high expectations for the president.

Full story

The senior U.S. commander in Iraq Tuesday rejected a memo by a subordinate who argued for U.S. troops to withdrawal earlier then planned.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The senior U.S. commander in Iraq Tuesday rejected a memo by a subordinate who argued for U.S. troops to withdrawal earlier than planned, the commander's spokeswoman said.

Gen. Raymond Odierno is the first senior U.S. military or civilian official to address the "Reese memo" since it went public last month, according to his spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle.

The memo said the withdrawal of U.S. troops should be accelerated because Iraqi forces will not get any better and are good enough to protect the government against attacks.

Aberle confirmed comments Odierno made in an interview with The Associated Press in Iraq on Tuesday.

"Our goal here given to us by the president is a secure, stable, sovereign, self-reliant Iraq. We're not there yet," Odierno told the AP.

Although Odierno thinks there are still problems with the Iraqi security forces, he believes the handover of the streets to Iraqi troops at the end of June is going well, Aberle said.

Army Col. Timothy Reese, a U.S. military advisor to Iraqi forces in Baghdad, submitted his memo to Odierno's command and it was leaked out.

In it he said the process of training Iraqi troops has reached a saturation point and, although he listed a host of problems, he said they are
good enough to protect the Iraqi government.

He proposed that the United States complete its pullout as of August 2010. Under the Obama administration's timetable, by that date U.S. troops in Iraq will be down to a stability force of between 35,000 to 50,000.

Reese's exit date would be 16 months before the president's mandate of all troops being out by the end of 2011.

Odierno said there is more work to be done in Iraq.

"We want to continue to build the institutional capacity of Iraq to move it towards a stable country and we want to make them a long-term partner that would help us to, in my mind, help overall with the security situation in the Middle East," he told the AP.

Odierno said the United States has to make sure that the national parliamentary elections scheduled for January are seen as legitimate and
credible.

He has also warned the security gains are fragile and the top threat to the stability in Iraq is the tension between Iraqis and Kurds in the north.

Last week, Odierno told reporters in Baghdad he had urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to work with the Kurdish Regional Government to work out differences in oil revenue sharing and to settle border disputes, two major sticking points between the two groups.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday arrived in Iraq, where he will meet with the country's prime minister, Nuri al Maliki, and get a first-hand look at the American military's new role of supporting Iraqi forces.

U.S. troops have handed over control of key cities and towns to Iraqi security forces and are scheduled to completely pull out of the country by 2011.

Gates arrived at a U.S. base in southern Iraq on an unannounced visit. On Monday, Gates was in Israel and Jordan.

The defense secretary's visit to the region is part of a busy week of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.

George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, also held meetings with top officials, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

“Certainly there are possibilities there,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. But Mullen added, “I haven’t seen any indications of that in recent days. The seven missiles which the leadership [of North Korea] fired yesterday basically into the sea – similar to what they did in 2006 – those were violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

“They continue to thumb their nose at the international community,” Mullen added. “And I think the international community – which has been bound very tightly together to include Russia and China - and putting additional pressure on North Korea that needs to continue and those sanctions need to be enforced.”

On Iraq, Adm. Mullen rejected the suggestion that Iraqis celebrating in the streets earlier this week - as the U.S. met a deadline to pull out of major cities - was a sign that citizens of the war-torn country did not appreciate American sacrifices to establish peace and stability in the country.

Related: History will have to make a judgment on Iraq, says Powell

“I know from my engagement with Prime Minister Maliki as well as the rest of the political and military leadership in Iraq, they’re very appreciative of everything that we have done,” Mullen told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.

Updated: 4:40 p.m.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Obama administration is committed to providing enough additional troops in Afghanistan, one of President Obama’s senior military advisers says.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that he, Obama, and retired Gen. Jim Jones, Obama’s National Security Adviser are all in agreement.

“Gen. Jones, and I, and the president, are all on the same page in terms of what we have to do now,” Mullen told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. “President Obama has committed these troops. They’re arriving as we speak and will through the rest of this year.”

Mullen added that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, is conducting a 60-day assessment to determine whether he has sufficient boots on the ground or whether he needs more troops on top of the additional 21,000 the Obama administration recently authorized.

Mullen also expressed optimism about the situation in Iraq where U.S. troops recently pulled back from Iraq’s major cities under an agreement signed by former President George W. Bush.

“I’m really encouraged based on what I see,” Mullen said.

Mullen added that he thought the military was on track to complete a withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011, also under the terms of an agreement with Iraq’s government.

Updated: 3:21 p.m.

The vice president visited with U.S. troops during his recent visit to Iraq - including with his son, Army Capt. Beau Biden, pictured here with the vice president.

(CNN) - The U.S. government intends to have all its troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011, and it's up to the Iraqis to make that timetable work, Vice President Joe Biden said.

In an interview with ABC News' "This Week" during his trip to Iraq that ended Sunday, Biden said a collapse by Iraq into civil war once U.S. troops depart would be "a tragic outcome."

President Barack Obama remains committed to withdrawing combat troops by the end of August 2010 and all U.S. forces out by the end of 2011, he said.

"That is our intention," Biden said, noting that Iraqi elections scheduled for early 2010 would offer the nation an opportunity for a major step forward.

"It is our expectation that election will come out peacefully," he said.

On another issue, Biden refused to speculate on what the United States would do if Israel decided to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated such a strike could happen if Israel believes international efforts to curtail Iranian nuclear weapons production are failing.

Iran insists its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes.

Biden said Israel has the right as a sovereign nation to act in its own interests.

"We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do," he said.

The United States will continue working with allies to engage Iran in talks on halting its nuclear program, Biden said.

Participants in the so-called P5-plus-one talks have invited Iran to take part, he said, and it was up to Iran on whether to join in or remain isolated from the global community.

"There is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior with how to proceed what we believe is in the national interest of the United States, which we also believe is in the best interest of Israel," Biden said of the proposed talks.

The P5-plus-one includes the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - along with Germany.

“A dictator is gone. A despicable regime is gone,” the former Secretary of State under George W. Bush said Sunday in an interview that aired on CNN’s State of the Union. “And the Iraqi people have been given a chance to have a representative form of government, living in peace with its neighbors. We’ll have to see what history's judgment of that will be.”

The retired general also gave his take on recent celebrations in Iraq as a deadline passed for U.S. troops withdrew from the country’s major cities.

“I think we should just pocket this,” Powell told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King about celebrations in the streets that heralded the U.S. pull-back.

“They are happy. They have made it clear from the very beginning that they wanted to be free and independent. And they didn’t want to be an occupied nation, which they were when we were there, and now that is starting to change.

“But this is not yet over. . . . it’s now up to the Iraqis to solidify their representative government system and make sure they have the security forces that can handle all of this.”

“They’re now responsible for their own destiny,” Powell added.

Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gufl War, also provided an explanation of his view of the term "Powell doctrine" - Which has been referred to as the use of overwhelming military force.

“First of all, you will never find in any Army manual something called ‘the Powell Doctrine.’ It was an invention of a reporter,” Powell said.

“It essentially says have a clear political goal and then apply decisive force, is the term I prefer rather than overwhelming because it doesn’t always have to be huge,” Powell said.

The retired general also said that he’s “glad to have a doctrine named after me.”

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad Thursday, where he will underscore Washington's commitment to a drawdown of American forces there, the White House said.

Biden is to meet with Iraqi and U.S. military officials and will also speak with troops. He is expected to deliver a speech to troops on Saturday, the Fourth of July, and may visit another city.

The trip comes a couple of days after U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban centers in the country, and left security duties in cities like Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and other communities to Iraqi security forces.

That move is part of a bilateral U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that calls for all U.S. troops to depart Iraq by the end of 2011.

Among the officials Biden will meet are President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Parliament Speaker Ayad al-Samarrai.

Biden will discuss with Iraq's leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation's long-term stability.

It is Biden's second trip to Iraq this year; but his first as vice president.

(updated 1:30 pm ET with additional information)

President Obama touched on the changed situation in Iraq during a White House event Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that street celebrations in Iraq for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from cities and towns were a testament to the sacrifices of U.S. troops in the country.

In brief remarks at a White House event on technological innovation, Obama said the drawback meant that Iraq's future was now in the hands of its leaders and people.

"The Iraqis are rightly treating this day as a cause for celebration," Obama said, calling the "important milestone" the result of the good work by U.S. forces who first entered Iraq in 2003 and toppled the regime of former leader Saddam Hussein.

Obama warned of tough times ahead in Iraq, noting a bombing earlier Tuesday in Kirkuk that killed at least 30 people. He said the United States would continue to support Iraq as it works to become "a "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant" country.

The U.S. withdrawal was part of an agreement signed last year between former President George W. Bush's administration and the Iraq leadership. The agreement calls for all U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

The remaining 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are now tasked with supporting Iraqi troops and police, and will require Iraqi permission to launch operations in the cities.

Listen: New CNN poll numbers about the U.S. troop withdrawal in Iraq

Iraqi soldiers join in a parade Tuesday in Karbala to mark the withdrawal of U.S. troops from cities and towns.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Tuesday marked the deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraq's towns and cities - a long-anticipated date that has been met by street festivals in Baghdad.

Celebrations were tempered, however, by fears of renewed violence as insurgents seek to use the date to stage new attacks.

At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed and 45 wounded Tuesday in a bombing in northern Iraq, a local police official said.

The blast took place in a busy commercial area in a predominantly Kurdish part of Kirkuk, destroying 20 shops and houses, the official said. Kirkuk is about 235 miles north of Baghdad.

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Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Sunday that it's time for us to move out of the cities.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Tuesday marks the long-anticipated deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraqi towns and cities, but on Monday, there will be no long lines of tanks rolling out of Baghdad or thousands of troops marching out of other cities.

The U.S. military has been gradually pulling its combat troops out of Iraq's population centers for months to meet the deadline agreed to by Washington and Baghdad.

Since January, Americans have handed over or shut down more than 150 bases across the country, leaving U.S. troops in a little more than 300 locations in Iraq that gradually will be handed over to Iraqi control.

Iraqis expressed mixed feelings in the run-up to what the government has been describing as National Sovereignty Day.

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Army Gen. Ray Odierno said he's seen a "constant improvement" in both the security situation and governance in Iraq to prepare for the June 30 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from major cities.

"They've been working for this for a long time," Odierno said on CNN's "State of the Union."

In a separate interview on "Fox News Sunday," Odierno said all U.S. troops already were out of Iraq's major cities before Tuesday's deadline.

"We have already moved out of the cities," Odierno said. "We've been slowly doing it over the last eight months. And the final units have moved out of the cities over the last several weeks."

The shift is part of the security agreement that former President George W. Bush's administration signed with Iraq.

In the CNN interview, Odierno blamed the recent violence in Iraq on "extremist elements using the timeframe and date to gain attention to themselves and divert attention from the success of Iraqi security forces."

The 131,000 U.S. troops in Iraq still will "maintain full coordination with Iraqi forces inside the cities" and continue to have intelligence capacity, Odierno said. With approval from the Iraqis, they also will carry out operations in major cities as necessary, he said.

Odierno said his goal is to help provide security that allows Iraq to hold planned national elections leading to the eventual removal of all U.S. troops by the end of 2011.

He said his biggest worry is a breakdown in stability such as a "consistent increase in violence" or a situation that Iraqi forces can't handle.

"I don't see that" happening, Odierno said. "I think we're on the right path."

Odierno also said Iran continues to "interfere" in Iraq, including training insurgents and paying surrogates. But he said his mission is limited to providing security within Iraq, no matter the provocation from Iran or elsewhere.

"I'm not authorized to do anything outside the borders of Iraq," he said.

Iran's government has repeatedly denied fomenting violence inside Iraq.

Updated: 2:38 p.m.

Liz Cheney traveled to the Middle East with her parents in March 2008.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Waterboarding was not used to produce intelligence that linked Iraq to al Qaeda in the run-up to the war in Iraq, former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter said Sunday.

A former top State Department official, Lawrence Wilkerson, told CNN last week that finding a "smoking gun" linking Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network became the main purpose of the "alternative" interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002 - a program critics say amounted to the torture of prisoners in American custody.

But Liz Cheney, who served in the State Department during the Bush administration, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that "Nobody who is talking about this in the press has any knowledge of specific detainee treatment."

"The people that claimed to have been waterboarded in these articles are not any of those people," she said.

Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, was former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff during the Bush administration's first term. Since leaving office, he has become an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.

In an online essay Thursday, he wrote that al Qaeda captive Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was "waterboarded" by Egyptian intelligence until he told interrogators that Baghdad trained terrorists to use chemical and biological weapons - a key element in the Bush administration's case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

But Liz Cheney told ABC that Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of out of fantasies about the vice president," and pointed out that al-Libi was not among the three al Qaeda figures the United States has admitted to subjecting to waterboarding.

And she said the former vice president - who has been publicly defending the interrogation program in recent weeks - "would not substitute his own judgment for the professionals at the CIA."

"I think that it's important for us to have all the facts out - and the first and more important fact is that the vice president has been absolutely clear that he supported this program, this was an important program," she said. "It saved American lives."

According to a 2006 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee, al-Libi reported he told Egyptian agents about the alleged al Qaeda-Iraq link after being beaten and confined to a roughly 20-inch-by-20-inch box for 17 hours. Egypt has denied al-Libi's allegations.

Al-Libi recanted the claim in 2004, and no other evidence to support his allegation was found after the invasion of Iraq, the Intelligence Committee concluded. He died in a prison in Libya in early May, reportedly a suicide, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed senior intelligence officials, reported Saturday that two top al Qaeda figures who were subjected to waterboarding - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah - were not asked about al Qaeda and Iraq while being subjected to the practice, though they had been questioned about possible connections between the two during other sessions.

Wilkerson told CNN he could not prove his allegations in court, "but I'm pretty sure it's fairly accurate." And an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Paul Burney, also told the Pentagon's inspector-general that interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp were pressed to question al Qaeda captives about any connections to Iraq, though other witnesses cited in an April report by the Senate Armed Services Committee did not recall similar pressure.

Dick Cheney criticized Powell during a television interview last weekend, saying he no longer considers Powell a fellow Republican after his former colleague endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. But Wilkerson said he is not speaking for his former boss and does not know whether Powell shares his views.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama is "saddened" by Monday's news that an American soldier shot and killed five of his fellow troops at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

"The President's heart goes out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this horrible tragedy," Gibbs said at Monday's White House briefing.

"He was shocked by the news of this incident and will press to ensure that we fully understand what happened at the clinic and that we are doing everything we can to ensure that our men and women in uniform are protected," Gibbs said. "He plans on seeing Secretary Gates this afternoon and will raise this matter then."

The shooting took place at 2 p.m. local (6 a.m. ET) at the U.S. military base. The soldier is now in custody.

Updated 5:15 p.m. With written statement from the president.

President Obama issued the following statement Monday evening about the shootings:

"I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear the news from Camp Victory this morning, and my heart goes out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this horrible tragedy. I will press to ensure that we fully understand what led to this tragedy, and that we are doing everything we can to ensure that our men and women in uniform are protected as they serve our country so capably and courageously in harm’s way. To begin this process, I met with Secretary Gates this afternoon to get a briefing on the situation."

Related: Soldier kills 5 comrades, officials say

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday deplored the recent string of bombings in Iraq, but said the "terrible and tragic events" haven't stopped the nation from implementing security strides.

Speaking to reporters during her one-day trip to Baghdad, Clinton told reporters at a press conference that the bombings that left nearly 160 people dead and scores wounded since Thursday "are regrettable and horrible in terms of loss of life."

But Clinton said that she and Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, share the same perspective about the recent high-profile bombings in Diyala province and Baghdad.

"They do not reflect any diversion from the security progress that has been made," she said. "The reaction from the Iraqi people and the Iraqi leaders was firm and united in rejecting that violence and refusing to allow it to set Iraqi against Iraqi, which is obviously one of its intended goals."

Clinton said she was briefed by Odierno, and they talked about the high-profile attacks in the last few days, which stoked fears of a return to
Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence.

Full Story

The Senate has confirmed Christopher Hill to be the new administration's ambassador to Iraq.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate confirmed veteran diplomat Christopher Hill as U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday, voting 73-23 to put Hill in chargeof the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

Hill, a career Foreign Service officer, was the lead U.S. negotiator in the now-stalled North Korean disarmament talks. He will take over the Baghdad post at a time when President Barack Obama is attempting to wind down the 6-year-old war in Iraq.

His nomination made it past a key Senate test Monday as opponents failed to block the nomination. All 23 votes against the nomination Tuesday came from Republicans, several of whom argued that the nominee has no hands-on experience in the Middle East and speaks no Arabic.

But Sen. John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday that Hill had great experience "in negotiating complex, high-stakes, multilateral deals in conflict zones."

"The entire resolution of Iraq as a success will revolve around the diplomacy that we apply to it and our ability to seek political reconciliation, which will be implemented by that diplomacy," said Kerry, D-Massachusetts. Hill replaces Ryan Crocker, who was the top American diplomat in Baghdad from March 2007 until February.

– CNN's Dana Bash contributed to this report.

Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni was offered and accepted the post of U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Then, the offer was taken back with no explanation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Chris Hill is slowly overcoming GOP opposition that has delayed his nomination as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, but it's still unclear why the Obama administration revoked the offer they gave to someone else first - General Anthony Zinni.

Zinni told CNN Monday he hasn't been given any explanation about why the offer he got in January for the post, which he accepted, was abruptly taken back.

Zinni confirmed in an e-mail that he was asked to take the job by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and even congratulated by Vice President Joe Biden. But then, the offer was revoked and extended to Hill - a development Zinni says he heard on the news.

Zinni is a retired four-star Marine general and former head of Central Command. Like President Barack Obama, he was an early critic of the Iraq war.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told CNN he would have wholeheartedly supported Zinni for position because of his knowledge of the region. Graham, along with Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, have led the opposition to Hill, citing his "controversial legacy" as point man in the six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program and his lack of experience in the Middle East.

Graham, however, voted Monday to move Hill's nomination forward, while McCain did not vote. Brownback voted against Hill.

A State Department spokesman had no comment on Zinni.

A senior Democratic congressional source, who would not be quoted speaking about private deliberations, called the decision to nominate Hill over Zinni one of the "great mysteries" of the early days of the Obama administration.

The Iraqi government could be tweeting soon, courtesy of Hillary Clinton.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Iraqi government could be tweeting soon, courtesy of Hillary Clinton.

The State Department said Monday it is sending a team of technology executives to help the Iraqi government and other groups expand the country's emerging new media industry.

The nine-member delegation, which includes CEOs and other officials from such technology giants as AT&T, Google, Twitter and YouTube, will meet with Iraqi government and education officials, Iraqi technology companies and civil society groups.

A statement issued by the State Department said the team will "provide conceptual input as well as ideas on how new technologies can be used to build local capacity, foster greater transparency and accountability, build upon anti-corruption efforts, promote critical thinking in the classroom, scale-up civil society, and further empower local entities and individuals by providing the tools for network building."

"As Iraqis think about how to integrate new technology as a tool for smart power, we view this as an opportunity to invite the American technology industry to be part of this creative genesis," the State Department statement said.

The delegation is the latest State Department effort to use new media and social networking tools to further its diplomatic goals. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is already blogging on the State Department's Web site and has an "ask the secretary" initiative in which anyone around the world can communicate with her directly.

Last week in the Dominican Republic, Clinton held a digital town hall to talk about issues related to Latin America.

In less than seven hours, Odierno has increased the number of “supporters” connected to his new Facebook page by more than a factor of ten.

When his CNN interview initially aired Sunday morning, Odierno had roughly 70 followers on the social networking site and by Sunday afternoon, the general has nearly 900.

The U.S. military commander in Iraq told CNN’s John King that he was excited about using the site to get the word out about what American troops are accomplishing.

“I think it’s important that people can reach out and ask questions,” Odierno said of his new Facebook page. “Maybe [I can] educate them a little bit more on what’s going on here in Iraq and get to know us a little bit better.”

“This is new for me. This is new ground so we’ll see how it goes. But I’m actually pretty excited about it.”

“We, the government of Iraq and the security forces in Iraq are much more suited now for this fight,” Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said on CNN’s State of the Union. “And we believe that now we are leading and we are planning and carrying out most of the combat operations in the country and the United States forces are moving or transitioning to a more support role, more training, more providing more logistical support, rather than engaging in a huge military or kinetic combat operations.”

But al-Rubaie refused to say whether the Iraqi government would permit U.S. troops to stay in the country’s cities past an upcoming June 30 deadline if U.S. Gen. Ray Odierno decided the presence of U.S. troops was still necessary.

“I don't think we should answer this hypothetical question now,” al-Rubaie told Chief National Correspondent John King.

And al-Rubaie was mum when asked how new President Barack Obama was different from former President George W. Bush when it comes to diplomacy and conducting the affairs on the United States.

“I don't want to elaborate on differences,” the Iraqi security adviser said. “But I believe that President Obama understands the situation in Iraq and I believe he wants to stick by ... the withdrawal agreement.”

Related: U.S. should be out of Iraq by late 2011, general says

WASHINGTON (CNN) – General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander on the ground in Iraq, said Sunday that he believes U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011.

CNN Chief National Correspondent John King asked Odierno to rate his confidence, on a scale of one to ten, that U.S. troops would be out by the agreed upon timeline between the U.S. and Iraqi governments.

“As you ask me today, I believe it’s a ten – that we will be gone by 2011.”

Odierno, one of the key architects of the surge strategy in Iraq, also weighed in Sunday on the new president’s approach to the troubled nation.

“He’s our commander-in-chief,” Odierno said of President Barack Obama, whose opposition to the Iraq war and to the surge strategy became trademarks during the 2008 White House race. “As our commander-in-chief, we take direction from him.”

“He’s very attentive. He listens. He’s incredibly intelligent. He talks through the issues. . . .He makes a decision and then we execute those decisions and that’s all you can expect out of your commander-in-chief. And I’ve been very pleased with the interaction that I’ve been able to have with him.”

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On a lighter note, Odierno also discussed his new Facebook page with King. “I think it’s important that people can reach out and ask questions,” Odierno said of his new online social networking presence. “Maybe [I can] educate them a little bit more on what’s going on here in Iraq and get to know us a little bit better.”

“This is new for me. This is new ground so we’ll see how it goes. But I’m actually pretty excited about it.”

It did not take long for Facebook users to respond to Odierno’s appearance on State of the Union. One commenter on Odierno’s Facebook page said the general was “representing the USA well,” in the interview. “Thank you for that and for all you do for us at home and all those brave men & women you supply leadership & direction,” the commenter added.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The top U.S. military commander on the ground in Iraq said Sunday that conditions in the war-torn country have improved in the last year or so.

“They’ve improved significantly,” Gen. Ray Odierno told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King on State of the Union. “Obviously, we still have some very serious incidents . . . but, again, it’s much safer.”

Odierno also said Sunday that the number of combat fatalities in March was the lowest number suffered by U.S. troops since the beginning of the Iraq war. “So, there’s been a clear improvement of security here,” Odierno added.

“The issue is: can we maintain that? Can the Iraqis maintain it? And that’s what we’re working through now. We want them to be able to maintain this stability as we pull out.”

Odierno told King that he believed the U.S. military was on track to meet its schedule to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq over the next 18 months, adding though that he had the flexibility to re-assess that schedule.

The general also cautioned that there were still threats in Iraq. “There are some cells out there who are still capable of conducting suicide attacks,” Odierno said when asked about a recent uptick in violence and U.S. fatalities.

Odierno also said the U.S. military had made it more difficult for foreign fighters to get into Iraq through Syria, but there was still support for the Iraqi insurgency coming from Iran.

Full story

General Ray Odierno will be on 'State of the Union' Sunday.

(CNN) - General Ray Odierno, commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, will speak with CNN’s John King in an exclusive live interview on Sunday morning’s “State of the Union."

In his first trip to Iraq as Commander-in-Chief, President Obama said this week that it’s time for the Iraqis to take over.

But General Odierno, viewed by many as the driving force behind the escalation of U.S troops that altered the course of the war, has said that troops may not be able to leave two major Iraqi cities by the June 30 deadline for withdrawal as originally planned.

Tune in at 9 a.m. ET as the top U.S. commander in Iraq discusses Obama’s trip, the latest on U.S. troop withdrawals, and the future of the war in Iraq.

Have a question for the general? E-mail StateoftheUnion@CNN.com.

(CNN) - Bobby Ghosh, Senior Editor Time Magazine, tells CNN's Kiran Chetry the president should have visited Afghanistan before he went to Iraq.

(CNN) - As President Obama makes an unannounced stop in Iraq, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows Americans overwhelmingly support the president's plan to remove the majority of U.S. troops from the country by August of next year.

Just under 70 percent of Americans approve of Obama's plan to remove most troops in Iraq by next August while keeping 35,000-50,000 troops there past that date. Thirty percent of Americans oppose that plan.

Of the 30 percent who oppose the plan, 19 percent want all troops removed as soon as possible while 11 percent say all troops should stay indefinitely.

The new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also showed 63 percent of Americans oppose the War in Iraq while 35 percent approve.

The poll, conducted between April 3-5, interviewed 1,023 adult Americans and carries a margin of error of plus or minus three points.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi now will serve one year in jail instead of three, the attorney said. Bush was able to duck, and was unhurt in the incident.

Iraq's Central Criminal Court sentenced al-Zaidi to three years in March after he was found guilty of assaulting a foreign head of state on an official visit to Iraq. It was Bush's last visit to Baghdad before leaving office in January.

Al-Zaidi's lawyer, Dhiaa al-Saadi, said the appeals court announced its decision to reduce the sentence Monday, after lawyers appealed the criminal court ruling.

Al-Baghdadia TV, where the 30-year-old al-Zaidi works, has been broadcasting a bulletin announcing the reduced sentence.

In many traditional Middle East circles, throwing shoes at someone is considered a grave insult.

Al-Zaidi became a kind of hero after his actions, because of Bush's unpopularity - mainly as a result of the Iraq War. Expressing their own freedom on Facebook, a worldwide fan base rose up. Supporters formed hundreds of fan pages and groups, including one called the "Shoe-Throwing Appreciation Society."

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Watch Gen. David Petraeus and Richard Holbrooke as they discuss Iran and Iraq with John King on State of the Union.

U.S. forces have been engaged in fierce fighting to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - How does the American public feel about the war in Afghanistan? In a word, wary.

President Obama on Friday announced his strategy to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a plan that includes more troops, new legislation, improved troop training and added civilian expertise.

"The United States of American did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan. Nearly 3,000 of our people were killed on September 11, 2001," Obama said Friday.

"We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.

Stressing that "the safety of people around the world is at stake," Obama said the "situation is increasingly perilous" in the region in and around Afghanistan, where the United States has been fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban for more than 7½ years after attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.

Nevertheless, the American public has been wary about the war in Afghanistan, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in February.

Full story

Seven out of ten people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday say they support the president's announced plan to remove most U.S. troops from Iraq by August of next year.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – As the war in Iraq enters its seventh year, a new national poll indicates that most Americans favor President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan which would bring most U.S. troops home by next summer.

Seven out of ten people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday, the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, say they support the president's announced plan to remove most U.S. troops from Iraq by August of next year but keep a force of 35,000 to 50,000 in the country. Those remaining troops would train and advise Iraqi security forces, hunt terrorists and protect American civilian and military personnel and would depart Iraq in 2011.

"Obama's troop withdrawal plan is one of the few proposals from the new president that wins support from Democrats and Republicans," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "58 percent of Republicans approve of Obama's plan, with 84 percent of Democrats feeling the same way."

The poll also indicates that 63 percent of those questioned approve of how the President is handling the war in Iraq.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey was conducted March 12-15, with 1,019 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The poll's sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain have both questioned the president's choice of Christopher Hill to be the country's next ambassador to Iraq.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. John McCain will meet early next week with Chris Hill, President Barack Obama's nominee for ambassador to Iraq who McCain has questioned because he has no prior experience in the country, a spokeswoman told CNN.

McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan told CNN that McCain, an Arizona Republican and 2008 presidential nominee, plans to use the meeting to assess whether he thinks Hill can do the job. Buchanan said Hill requested the meeting.

McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, released a statement Thursday night saying "the next ambassador should have experience in the Middle East and in working closely with the U.S. military in counterinsurgency or counterterrorism operations. Mr. Hill has neither."

Hill has had a long career in the foreign service. He most recently served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, leading the U.S. delegation to the so-called six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program.

He also has served as ambassador to Poland and special envoy to Kosovo among other posts in Europe.

"I have every confidence that Ambassador Hill is the right person to represent the United States in Baghdad," said Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, which will consider Hill's nomination. "By nominating Ambassador Hill to serve in Baghdad, President Obama has chosen one of our very best to help bring lasting peace to Iraq.

"I look forward to his confirmation hearings, and am confident that those of my colleagues who may not yet be familiar with his service to the nation will be as impressed by his skill and dedication as I have been."

State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said Friday the administration stands behind Hill.

"I know that Ambassador Hill looks forward to confirmation hearings in which he can address the senators' concerns and go into more detail about his record," Duguid said. "He is ready for those hearings."

But in a telephone conversation with CNN, Graham said Hill "has no experience in the theater of operations in an area where experience matters."

"No matter how talented he may be, he is coming into a position where he has no background," said Graham.

Neither Graham nor McCain has announced plans to put a hold on Hill's nomination, a move that is allowed under Senate rules and could effectively block him from getting the post.

At the White House, President Obama's spokesman staunchly defended Hill's experience and ability to do the job in Iraq.

"The president believes quite strongly that the political disputes that stand in the way of continued progress in Iraq - many that have been outlined for years - call for somebody who has the unique ability to both understand and solve those challenges, and that we believe that Chris Hill possess the skills to do exactly that," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Both McCain and Graham, along with Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, also say they do not think Hill performed well as chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea.

"He's a figure from the past that got mixed reviews on North Korea," said Graham.

Kerry responded that "there are limits to what any one person can do" in situations like relations with North Korea and specifically responded to suggestions he failed to keep North Korea from testing a nuclear bomb.

"The responsibility for that lies first and foremost with North Korea and second with President Bush and his senior advisers, who did not empower Ambassador Hill to engage in direct talks with Pyongyang until after the North had withdrawn from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, exported nuclear technology to Syria, and tested a nuclear bomb," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, released a statement enthusiastically backing Hill.

"Hill is precisely the kind of diplomat America needs in the Middle East and Iraq, where a long-term resolution must be achieved politically and diplomatically, not militarily. I look forward to confirming him as quickly as possible," said Reid.

Updated: 8:09 p.m.

– CNN's Charley Keyes contributed to this report.

A Lebanese student in Beirut attends a December rally to support the shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist.

(CNN) - They've sung his praises on social networking pages, calling him a "hero," "the greatest man of our time," "a legend." They've said he deserves to be knighted and should be decorated with medals. They've cried out for his amnesty and have even proposed serving time for him.

The man many hundreds of thousands of Facebook users honor is no other than Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for hurling his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush.

The double-whammy size 10 shoe toss, neither of which hit Bush, took place in December at a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq. In many traditional Middle East circles, throwing shoes at someone is considered a grave insult.

To do this to an American president surrounded by Secret Service agents, no less, was as shocking to riveted viewers who watched the footage later as it was to the president himself.

"First of all, it's got to be one of the most weird moments of my presidency," Bush said later. "Here I am getting ready to answer questions from the free press in a democratic Iraq, and a guy stands up and throws his shoe. ... I'm not angry with the system. I believe that a free society is emerging, and a free society is necessary for our own security and peace."

Expressing their own freedom on Facebook, a worldwide fan base rose up to laud al-Zaidi's actions. They formed hundreds of fan pages and groups, big and small, serious and light. One is even called the "Shoe-Throwing Appreciation Society."

Full story

Chris Tucker, who was discharged from the Army last year, says he feels like he's still serving his country as a police officer..

SAVANNAH, Georgia (CNN) – As his tank rolled into Baghdad in April 2003, Chris Tucker mounted his camera to capture the moment.

"It's history; we made history," he told CNN back then. "It's my first war, hopefully my last war."

He could not have imagined then that six years later, Iraq would still be a combat zone.

"I thought we would get there quick and handle our business and we'd be out," Tucker told us this week. "At least, that's what we were told anyway."

Tucker received a medical discharge from the Army last year and he now is Officer Chris Tucker of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

"You still get to serve your community and your country in other ways," he said.

At age 26, he is a veteran of three combat tours. The patrol skills he learned on the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah and Sadr City come in handy as he drives his police cruiser around the neighborhoods of his Savannah precinct.

Full Story

TV reporter Muntadher al-Zaidi, shown in a file photo, was jailed after throwing his shoes at President Bush.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Muntadher al-Zaidi, the man seen as a hero in some circles for throwing his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush, was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday by an Iraqi court.

Al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in December in Baghdad.

Neither shoe hit the president, and other people in the room quickly knocked al-Zaidi to the ground before security officials arrested him.

Family members and journalists were cleared from the courtroom before Thursday's verdict.

After news of the verdict reached family members, al-Zaidi's brother appeared close to fainting. Other family members were seen crying and shouting curses about al-Maliki and Bush.

Al-Zaidi was a journalist who worked for the television network al-Baghdadia. The network also called for his release shortly after the incident.

He explained his actions during an hourlong appearance last month in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. Asked whether anyone pushed or motivated him, al-Zaidi said he was spurred by the "violations that are committed against the Iraqi people."

In the Middle East, throwing shoes at someone is traditionally a sign of contempt.

Al-Zaidi's angry gesture touched a defiant nerve throughout the Arab and Muslim world. He is regarded by many people as a hero, and demonstrators took to the streets in the Arab world and called for his release shortly after the incident.

Full story

(CNN) – President Obama nominated two seasoned veterans Wednesday to serve as U.S. ambassadors to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama announced that Christopher Hill would be his nominee for U.S. ambassador to Iraq, while Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry was picked as his U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

“These extraordinarily accomplished individuals have served their country with great distinction, and they have each agreed to take on tough assignments,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

See official biographies of Hill and Eikenberry released by the White House

Christopher R. Hill, Nominee for Ambassador to Iraq

Christopher R. Hill is currently the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. 

Ambassador Hill is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service whose most recent assignment was as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea.  On February 14, 2005, he was named as the Head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.  Previously he has served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999).  He also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southeast European Affairs in the National Security Council. Earlier in his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State's Policy Planning staff and in the Department’s Operation Center.  While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as a staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues.  He also served as the Department of State's Senior Country Officer for Poland.  Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis.  Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a B.A. in Economics.  He received a Master's degree from the Naval War College in 1994.  He speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian.

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, Nominee for Ambassador to Afghanistan

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry is the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium. His previous assignment was Commander of the Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan. Lieutenant General Eikenberry’s operational posts include service as commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne, and ranger infantry units in the continental United States, Hawaii, Korea, and Italy.  He has served in various strategy, policy, and political-military positions, including: Director for Strategic Planning and Policy for U.S. Pacific Command; U.S. Security Coordinator and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kabul, Afghanistan; Assistant Army and later Defense Attaché at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China; Senior Country Director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Army Staff.

Lieutenant General Eikenberry is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has earned master’s degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and from Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School in Hong Kong and he has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China.  Lieutenant General Eikenberry’s military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished and Superior Service Medals, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Ranger Tab, Combat and Expert Infantryman badges, and master parachutist wings. He has received the Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, Director of Central Intelligence Award, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, Czech Republic Meritorious Cross, Hungarian Alliance Medal, French Legion of Honor, and Afghanistan’s Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan and Akbar Khan Medals.  He is married to Ching Eikenberry.

12,000 troops to leave Iraq by fall, the military said Sunday.

BAGHDAD (CNN) – Some 12,000 troops will be pulled from Iraq over the next six months as part of a gradual troop withdrawal in the region, the U.S. military said in a statement Sunday.

Two brigade combat teams and their support units will redeploy without replacement, reducing the number of combat teams in Iraq from 14 to 12, the statement said.

An additional 4,000 British troops will also be withdrawn from Iraq.

The reduction of Coalition forces come a result of "an increased level of security and stability" that the country has achieved over the past year, according to the military statement.

"The time and conditions are right for Coalition forces to reduce the number of troops in Iraq," Gen. Ray Odierno said in the statement.

President Barack Obama announced last month the United States' plan to withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010.

Before laying out his administration's plans for the U.S. military in Iraq Friday, the President called former President George W. Bush. (Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)

(CNN) – President Barack Obama called former President Bush on this morning to tell him about his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, the White House said Friday.

Obama called the former president “as a courtesy” right before his speech at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Obama also called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki from Air Force One to brief him on his plan to withdraw most troops from that country by the end of August 2010. The preident also “sought and received” an agreement from the prime minister that he would receive Christopher Hill as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

On Friday, Obama released his plan to end combat operation in Iraq by August 31, 2010.