Britain refuses to set Iraq deadline

Iraq's government has made progress toward taking full charge of the country's security, but no deadline could be imposed for reaching that goal, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said today.

"We still see substantial remaining difficulties but we also see improvements and progress in the direction which we all want to see, whereby Iraq can be full in charge of its own destiny,'' Beckett told reporters in Berlin after meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.