Key among the indicators that Iraq is making progress on the political front is the adoption of a constitution - a process that that has been slowed by weeks of political infighting.

"An open-ended commitment to the Iraqis that we will be there, even if they fail to agree on a constitution, lessens the chances that the Iraqis will make the political compromises necessary to defeat the jihadists and the insurgency and become a nation," Democrat Carl Levin said at a hearing of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

Levin said he opposes the idea of imposing an exact timetable for pulling US forces in Iraq, but insisted on the importance of impressing upon Iraqis that US military support will not be open-ended.

"Suggesting to the Iraqis that we are willing to remain without limit is not only unacceptable to the American people, it is also placing great stress on our armed forces and reducing military recruitment," he said at the hearing attended by top US military officials.

Republican Senator Susan Collins also expressed support for linking ongoing US military support to signs of a good faith effort on the part of Iraq of progress on the political front.

"I'm convinced that a political solution is the key to ending support for the insurgency," said Collins, adding that it could be necessary to send a message that "there would be consequences if progress is not made."

Collins said she also opposes fixing in advance a date for withdrawing from Iraq.

Nevertheless she said, it is important, to "send a message to the Iraqi leaders, that they must make more rapid sustained progress toward the kind of political settlement that's needed to end public support -- to the extent that it exists -- for the insurgency."

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