Visiting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday stressed the need to draw up the Iraqi constitution by Aug. 15 as scheduled.

Rumsfeld, who arrived in Baghdad earlier in the day on a surprise visit, made the call to reporters at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, where he handed out medals to US troops.

"I sure hope no delay occurs," he told reporters, adding "I think the Iraqi people deserve to have a constitution."

He, meanwhile, warned the Iraqi leadership against a purge of the country's fledgling security forces and to steer clear of corruption in government.

Earlier, Rumsfeld met with Iraqi prime minister-designate Ibrahim Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani, during which he urged the upcoming Shiite-dominated government to avoid drastic personnel changes to its security forces.

"You can't do that, if you are trying to create a chain of command in the Iraqi security force and defeat a doggone insurgency," he told the Iraqis.

Rumsfeld also expressed that Washington had no exit strategy from Iraq and any pullout depended on the readiness of Iraqi forces to ensure security.

After the meeting with Rumsfeld, President Talabani said that the US official had reiterated Washington's support for the political process in Iraq and the need to hold the elections as scheduled by the Iraqi state administration law.

The Iraqi president said he asserted to Rumsfeld that the new Iraqi government would see the light as soon as possible, hopefully before the weekend, pledging that the Iraqi leadership would continue efforts to eradicate corruption and terror.

The Tuesday visit is Rumsfeld's ninth visit to Iraq since the beginning of Iraq War in March 2003. He last visited Iraq in February.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2005)