Before arriving in Baghdad, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff told reporters on his plane that Iraq's military and police had proven themselves over the past year.

Based on briefings from US commanders, Mullen said the Iraqi forces "are ready" to take full responsibility for security in the country as American forces are scaled back to a 50,000-strong mission.

He said the Iraqi troops are "performing in the lead exceptionally well."

"I've seen their response in various situations where violent attacks have occurred. And their response has really been good."

He recalled grim days during the peak of sectarian violence three years ago, "when there was great despair about where all this was going."

Mullen said the progress since 2007 represented "truly a stunning achievement."

He added at a press conference in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone: "We are on track to reduce the number of American forces here in Iraq to 50,000 or less by the 1st of September."

"I see absolutely nothing to negatively impact that."

The United States has less than 65,000 soldiers in Iraq but all combat troops are due out by then, leaving a training and advisory force of 50,000. And by December 2011, all remaining troops are to leave.

"We're still on track to reduce the number of troops to 50,000 by the end of August and to have all combat troops out of Iraq by 2011," said Mullen, who was due to meet the US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno.

With the US military under strain from years of war since 2001, the Obama administration remains determined to scale back the US presence despite political deadlock in the country since March elections.

On Tuesday, Iraq's parliament postponed indefinitely what would have been only its second session since the March 7 vote, with parties unable to agree on a new governing coalition.

The admiral's visit to Iraq comes after twin car bombs killed 21 people on Monday in the southern Shiite holy city of Karbala, while four people died in a suicide attack on a Saudi-funded television channel in Baghdad.

US and Iraqi officials have warned of the dangers of a spike in violence as negotiations on forming a new government have dragged on without agreement, nearly five months after parliamentary elections.

Mullen and US Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, who was alongside the admiral at the press conference, said the recent violence would not affect the drawdown timetable.

"The events of the last few days ... are horrific, and they are sobering, but they don't deter us from the process that we're in," Lew told reporters.

Mullen said he expected to receive an update from US and Iraqi officials on efforts to form a ruling coalition.

During his one-day visit, he was scheduled to meet President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and former premier Iyad Allawi.

Iraqi forces took over security in the country's cities last year, and the US military also has transferred to Baghdad control of prisons holding suspected militants.

Mullen said he was concerned over the recent escape of four Al-Qaeda-linked inmates from an Iraqi prison, but said he retained confidence in Baghdad authorities despite the incident.

"While I'm concerned about the four that got out the other day, overall I applaud the efforts in the transition and what's happened so far," he said.

Mullen arrived in Baghdad as part of 10-day global tour that included stops in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where he checked on progress in the nearly nine-year-old war.

related report
Blix accuses Bush, Blair of 'poor judgment'
Ex-UN weapons inspector Hans Blix questioned Tuesday the judgment of Britain and the United States in invading Iraq on the basis of evidence of weapons of mass destruction that was clearly "poor".

Giving evidence to an independent British inquiry into the March 2003 war in London, Blix said "I have never questioned the good faith" of then US president George W. Bush and then British prime minister Tony Blair over the conflict.

"What I question was the good judgment, particularly in Bush but also in Blair's judgment," in accepting the intelligence that suggested Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) -- the stated reason for war -- he said.

Blix was executive chairman of the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq from March 2000 to June 2003, charged with finding the WMD that London and Washington were convinced Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hiding.

Such weapons were never found, undermining the whole basis for a conflict that left thousands of Iraqis and foreign soldiers dead.

Blix told the Iraq inquiry in London that he initially believed Iraq had WMD, saying that while it had "unilaterally" destroyed much of the weapons it used in the early 1990s, elements remained that could have been built on.

He told the panel that he felt at first that a British dossier setting out the intelligence case in September 2002 was "plausible", adding: "I felt that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction."

However, he began to change his view after January 2003 because of a greater willingness by the Iraqis to cooperate with his inspectors and because sites identified by intelligence documents kept coming up empty.

"What was really important was about this business of sites given, was that when we reported we did not find any WMD they should have realised in Washington and London that their sources were poor," he said.

Blix said he informed Blair and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of his concerns, telling the inquiry: "I alerted them that we were sceptical. Certainly, I gave the warning.

The former inspector said he wanted to continue the inspections and so indeed had Britain. "But the military timetable did not permit that," he added.

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