Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (L) meets with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at the Presidential Council Office in Baghdad December 10, 2009. Secretary Gates stopped in Iraq following a two day trip to Afghanistan one week after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he will send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gates will face questioning next week from lawmakers who control government spending about the cost of the Obama administration's surge of troops into Afghanistan, congressional aides said on Thursday. Picture taken December 10, 2009.