Gates visits Baghdad to discuss troops

New Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an unannounced trip to the battlefront, discussed the possibility of boosting U.S. troop strength in Iraq with U.S. commanders in the beleaguered country but has made no decisions about what to do, he said Wednesday.

On just his third day in his post, Gates journeyed to Iraq armed with a mandate from President Bush to help forge a new Iraq war strategy. His goal is get advice from his top military commanders on a new strategy for the increasingly unpopular, costly and chaotic war _ a conflict that Bush conceded Tuesday the U.S. is not winning.

"We discussed the obvious things," Gates told reporters after meeting with top U.S. generals. "We discussed the possibility of a surge and the potential for what it might accomplish."