Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee told reporters he was making the holiday season trip "to let the soldiers know how much we appreciate what they're doing here."

Asked if the deaths of soldiers at the hands of anti-coalition assailants was a price worth paying to achieve US goals in Iraq, Brownlee said he had been "impressing on soldiers the importance of their mission.

"What happens here influences the rest of the world," said Brownlee, adding that he had learned after he had embarked on this trip that Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi was going to renounce his country's weapons of mass destruction.

"Perhaps he saw what was going on here (in Iraq) and decided to give them up," said Brownlee, who arrived in Iraq after visiting US troops in Afghanistan.

Libya surprised the world Friday when it renounced weapons of mass destruction after nine months of secret talks with the US and Britain.

The US mission in Iraq would, in the wake of the capture of the ousted Iraqi president, continue "to create an environment to enable stability and democracy to prevail."

"I am impressed every time I come here at how much progress is being made," said Brownlee, adding that this was the third time he had visited Iraq since June.

A military official travelling with him said that "the security situation will dictate troop numbers" in Iraq over the coming months.

Referring to Time magazine's naming of the US soldier as person of the year, Brownlee said this was "exactly the right choice."

"I think every soldier is standing a little bit taller today as a result of that tribute."

Earlier Wednesday, three soldiers from the Fourth Infantry Division, which is based in Tikrit and controls north-central Iraq, were killed by a roadside bomb in nearby Samarra.

Their deaths brought to 204 the number of US troops killed in combat in Iraq since major operations were declared over on May 1.

WAR.WIRE