(Adds comment from U.S. senator, paragraphs 17-18; edits) By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it was using milestones to gauge the Iraqi government's progress in tackling security while an Iraqi minister urged the United States and Britain not to cut and run from Iraq despite rampant bloodshed. October is on course to become the deadliest month this year for U.S. troops in Iraq, with at least 87 U.S. military deaths. Military officials said a U.S. soldier in Baghdad who worked as a translator was missing and may have been abducted. Troops backed by armored vehicles and helicopters were making house-to-house searches. Domestic pressure is building on President George W. Bush over Iraq as the Nov. 7 congressional elections loom but the president insisted the United States would not withdraw from Iraq "until we get the job done." He also said in an interview with the CNBC television network that changes in troop levels were up to his generals. "And if they were to say, I need more troops or less troops,' I will support them," Bush said. The Bush administration acknowledged a New York Times report that it had milestones for Iraq and wanted faster progress. But it denied the paper's contention that it planned to tell Iraq it must meet the markers or face changes in U.S. military strategy. "Our ambassador in Iraq has been working with the Iraqi government to do just that, to find the demonstrable milestones and benchmarks along the way in which we will hand over more security control," White House counselor Dan Bartlett told CBS's "Early Show." The White House, however, said there were no threats of punitive measures if the Iraqis fail to meet deadlines. "Are we issuing ultimatums? No," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. But the Defense Department said it wanted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to move more quickly on security. "We would like to see progress come a little faster," spokesman Eric Ruff said. In London, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said national forces were gradually assuming responsibility for security but Iraq needed help to combat what he called "a difficult onslaught by terrorists." "The rest of the world including the UK and the United States must understand that the stakes are very high in Iraq. There is no option of cutting and running," said Salih, in London for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair. NO DATES SET U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon the milestones carried a time element, but that they were broad and did not include specific dates. Transfer of authority over Iraqi provinces and elements of the country's national reconciliation plan were among the milestones being discussed, he said, but he also stressed there were no penalties associated with missing the milestones. Bush has been hammered by Democrats for an open-ended commitment to the Iraq war and in return he has emphasized that he is flexible on the military tactics. The White House draws a distinction between shifts in tactics and a wholesale revamping of the Iraq strategy and has suggested a broad policy overhaul was not imminent. Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he doubted Bush would shift his Iraq policy two weeks before the U.S. election. But he said he was convinced from discussions with at least two senior Republican senators that they would join in a bipartisan effort after the election to pressure the administration "to seek a political solution and a resolution for how we will deal with placement of American troops." Violence raged on in Iraq where eight bodies with gunshot wounds in the head, some of them bound, were found in different districts of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. Gunmen killed four policemen in Baghdad and a car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol north of Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded five. The Iraqi government imposed a curfew in the tense southern town of Amara on Monday after battles between Shi'ite militias and police that killed at least 25 people last week. Britain, which has 7,200 soldiers in Iraq, plans to gradually hand over security duties in the south to Iraqi forces but says it will only leave when the job is done. A poll showed more than 60 percent of British voters want Britain's troops withdrawn from Iraq this year. Forty-five percent felt the soldiers should leave now, while 16 percent wanted them out by the end of the year, even if the United States, Britain's closest ally, asked them to remain, according to the ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper.(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Claudia Parsons in Baghdad, Kristin Roberts and Susan Cornwell in Washington)
