U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Sunday that political stability in Iraq won't likely happen before the Bush administration makes its critical September assessment on whether its war strategy is working, AP reported. But Gates declined to predict that a drawdown of U.S. military forces in such a scenario would happen by year's end. He cited some progress in reducing violence locally in regions such as Anbar Province, a former base of al-Qaida's activities in western Iraq. «It's a possibility,» Gates hedged, when asked in broadcast interviews if he considered a troop drawdown this year a «strong possibility» or would bet on it. «We're doing contingency planning on a lot of different possibilities,» Gates said.
