Key Senate Republican Is Grim On Iraq

(CBS/AP)  A leading Senate Republican is offering his darkest assessment to date of the situation in Iraq.

Senate Armed Services chairman John Warner says the war in Iraq is "drifting sideways" without a commitment from its government to disarm militias.

Warner, who recently visited the region, says the military has done what it could. He says Congress must make some "bold decisions" if, after three months, progress is not made by the Iraqis to calm ethnic violence and hasten reconstruction.

"In two or three months, if this thing hasn't come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control … I think it's the responsibility of our government, internally, to determine: Is there a change of course that we should take? And I wouldn't take off the table any option at this time," Warner told reporters on Thursday, reports CBS News Capitol Hill reporter John Nolen.

Warner did not say what he thinks Congress should do. But he added all options will be considered. Lawmakers have suggested various remedies, including setting a timetable to pull out U.S. troops and dividing the country into smaller independent ethnic states.