WBRZ - Baton Rouge

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says Baghdad's political troubles won't keep American troops from leaving the country as planned at the end of 2011.

Gen. Raymond Odierno says the Iraqi security forces are doing much of the work already and that security has improved significantly. Odierno says U.S. forces haven't needed to conduct airstrikes in at least six months and that Americans are mostly operating as advisers to Iraqi forces.

Iraq's leading political parties have been unable to form a new government since March, when elections failed to produce a clear-cut winner.

Odierno told reporters Wednesday that he would be concerned if the political issue wasn't resolved by October.