BAGHDAD — Syria's foreign minister called Sunday for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, and his counterpart in Baghdad demanded that Damascus take action against insurgent financiers and organizers hiding there.
It was the highest-level meeting between the neighboring countries since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
"We think that the presence of a timetable for withdrawal of foreign troops will assist in reducing the violence and creating security," said Walid Moallem, the most senior Syrian official to visit Iraq since the war started.
President Bush has rejected proposed timelines to leave Iraq.
In a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Moallem denied suggestions that Syria had been pressured by the U.S. to meet with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
The visit followed news reports that James A. Baker III, the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan U.S. panel, had contacted Syrian officials for help in stopping the violence in Iraq.
In Washington, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday reiterated his call for a short-term increase in troops for Iraq.
The Republican presidential hopeful told ABC's "This Week" that the move might cause a "terrible strain" on the U.S. military, but said "there's only one thing worse and that is defeat ... and we've been losing."
McCain added that U.S. troops were "fighting and dying for a failed policy" and needed reinforcements to ensure victory.
"The consequences of failure are catastrophic," he said. "It will spread to the region. You will see Iran more emboldened. Eventually, you could see Iran pose a greater threat to the state of Israel."
The political developments came as violence continued across Iraq.
A Marine was killed in Al Anbar province Sunday, the U.S. military said. And Iraqi special forces today, aided by U.S. advisors, raided a Sadr City mosque compound thought to be harboring kidnappers, the military said. There were no casualties reported. Three people were arrested.
On Sunday, at least 45 bodies were discovered in various areas of Baghdad, and three explosions killed at least 11 people and injured 32 in the Baghdad neighborhood of Mashtal, where an Iraqi police colonel and his guard were slain earlier.
And in two separate kidnappings in the capital, Shiite Muslim Deputy Health Minister Ammar Safar and Sunni Arab criminal court Judge Mudhaffar Ubaidi disappeared Sunday.
