Gates sees Iraq "ethnic cleansing" if U.S. pulls out

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday warned that limiting troops' activities in Iraq and withdrawing from Baghdad could lead to "ethnic cleansing" in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

Gates' comment followed a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to end most spending on the Iraq war in 2008, limiting it to targeted operations against al Qaeda, training for Iraqi troops and U.S. force protection.

"One real possibility is if we abandon some of these areas and withdraw into the countryside or whatever to do these targeted missions that you could have a fairly significant ethnic cleansing inside Baghdad and in Iraq more broadly," Gates said.

"What we do know is if Baghdad is in flames and the whole city is engulfed in violence, the prospects for a political solution are almost nonexistent," he said on the Laura Ingraham syndicated radio programme.

The Pentagon has asked Congress for $100 billion (50.6 billion pounds) in additional war funds, and Gates has repeatedly warned that the U.S. Army must have the money by April 15 or training and equipment repairs could be impaired.

The Democrat-led Congress has tied those funds to a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from the increasingly unpopular war, defying a veto threat from President George W. Bush.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, this week stepped up pressure on the Bush administration by backing legislation to stop war funding by March 31, 2008, with the targeted exceptions.

Gates did not comment directly on the political debate on Capitol Hill or Bush's veto threat.