Petraeus: 'Let's keep our powder dry'

BAGHDAD, July 27 (UPI) -- Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, says conditions are too unsettled to set a withdrawal timetable, McClatchy Newspapers reported.

Petraeus told McClatchy in an interview it is too soon "project out, and to then try to plant a flag on a particular date."

The timing of a U.S. troop withdrawal has become a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama insisting he will withdraw troops within 16 months after Inauguration Day, conditions on the ground permitting. Likely Republican nominee John McCain has opposed Obama's approach, but has said in the past few says he would like to withdraw troops as soon as conditions permit.

Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki seemed last week to endorse Obama's proposal, and the United States and Iraq announced agreement on so-called time horizons for withdrawal.

With violence in Iraq at reduced levels, Petraeus told McClatchy some commanders "have so many good weeks, (they think) it's won. We've got this thing. Well we don't."

He noted that violence in the past two-and-a-half months was at the lowest level since March 2004.

"Well that's encouraging," he said. "It's heartening. It's very welcome. But let's keep our powder dry. … Let's not let our guard down."