Top administration officials were sent to Capitol Hill in a push to build political support for its escalation of the war. Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected calls to set a timetable on the new deployment of more than 21,000 troops.

Defense Sec. Robert Gates: “I don’t think anybody has a definite idea of how long a surge would last. I think for most of us in our minds we’re thinking of it as a matter of months, not 18 months or two years. We will know in a couple of months whether that strategy will bear fruit.”