US Defense Secretary Warns of Massive Bloodshed in Iraq if US Military Operations Curtailed (1/2)

Secretary Gates issued the latest verbal" class="hjdict" word="verbal" target=_blank>verbalsalvo in an increasingly fierce power struggle between America's executive and legislative branches of government over the future of U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

Speaking on a domestic radio program, Gates warned of in his words "ethnic cleansing inside Baghdad or in Iraq more broadly," if U.S. troops curtail" class="hjdict" word="curtail" target=_blank>curtail operations in the strife-ridden nation.

Speaking with reporters at the Pentagon hours later, the secretary used somewhat milder language, but his point was the same.

"I believe that if we were precipitously to withdraw from Baghdad at this point, there would be a dramatic increase in sectarian violence."

Gates said, prematurely winding down U.S. military operations would allow bands of murderers to roam free in Iraq.

"Those who are tortured and being killed are being killed by death squads, by hit squads. This is not a large number of people turning out onto the streets and killing each other. These are targeted killings by relatively small numbers of people, in an attempt to stoke the sectarian violence, and, frankly, to try make the Baghdad security plan fail - by hampering the reconciliation" class="hjdict" word="reconciliation" target=_blank>reconciliation process."