BAGHDAD — Stressing the limits of U.S. patience, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday the Bush administration will weigh Iraq's political progress in deciding this summer whether to bring home some of the U.S. troops.

"Our commitment to Iraq is long-term, but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq's streets open-endedly," Gates said told U.S. and Iraqi reporters at a news conference in the capital.

The U.S. troop buildup is still under way, with mixed results on security and an upward trend in U.S. combat deaths in Baghdad. A series of major attacks in Baghdad over the past week, killing hundreds of Iraqi civilians, have undermined what U.S. military officials had seen as early promising signs of reduced sectarian violence.

Gates, on his third trip to Iraq since becoming Pentagon chief last December, said he encouraged the Iraqis to pass legislation on political reconciliation and the sharing of oil revenues among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. He told the Iraqis he hopes their Council of Representatives would not recess for the summer without passing the legislation.

Whether they take action on these measures will be considered when he and top U.S. commanders review the military buildup later this summer, Gates told them. But he would not provide details when asked what the U.S. would do if the Iraqis fail to meet those goals.

ARMY CLAMPED DOWN AFTER TILLMAN'S DEATH

SAN FRANCISCO — Within hours of Pat Tillman's death, the Army went into information-lockdown mode, cutting off phone and Internet connections at a base in Afghanistan, posting guards on a wounded platoon mate, and ordering a sergeant to burn Tillman's uniform.

New investigative documents reviewed by The Associated Press describe how the military sealed off information about Tillman's death from all but a small ring of soldiers. Officers quietly passed their suspicion of friendly fire up the chain to the highest ranks of the military, but the truth did not reach Tillman's family for five weeks.

The clampdown, and the misinformation issued by the military, lie at the heart of a burgeoning congressional investigation.

"We want to find out how this happened," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, which has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. "Was it the result of incompetence, miscommunication or a deliberate strategy?"

It is also a central issue as the Army weighs punishments against nine officers, including four generals, faulted in the latest Pentagon report on the case of the NFL star-turned-soldier. Military officials said those recommendations could come in the next several weeks.

REPUBLICAN SUPPORT FOR GONZALES SLIM

WASHINGTON — Desperate for support among fellow Republicans, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced grim prospects Friday after a bruising Senate hearing that produced one outright call for resignation and a fistful of invitations and hints to quit.

One GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn of Texas, predicted Gonzales would weather the furor and said he should. "Frankly, I don't think the Democrats are going to be satisfied with the resignation by Al Gonzales," he said.

Gonzales gave no indication Friday that he was leaving.

"Please know that as you continue your work, I am by your side," the attorney general told an audience of crime victims' rights supporters. He spoke in a gravely voice the day after his long day of testimony.

Gonzales also called several GOP senators, including Cornyn and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, an aide said.

N.J. GOVERNOR BREATHING ON OWN

CAMDEN, N.J. — Gov. Jon S. Corzine was breathing on his own again Friday after doctors removed a breathing tube he'd been using since he was critically injured in an April 12 high-speed crash, his spokesman said.

Doctors removed the breathing tube shortly before 12:30 p.m. Friday, spokesman Anthony Coley said.

Breathing unassisted moves Corzine closer to having his condition upgraded. He has been listed as critical but stable since he was brought to Cooper University Hospital last week.

Corzine broke a leg and several bones in his chest, including 11 ribs, when the sport utility vehicle he was riding in wrecked on the Garden State Parkway north of Atlantic City. He was placed on a ventilator to ease the pain of breathing, doctors said.

The SUV, driven by a state trooper with Corzine in the front passenger seat, was traveling 91 mph and the governor was not wearing his seat belt, officials have said.

ILLINOIS BABY SITTER CHARGED WITH DROWNING KIDS

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A baby sitter already accused of killing a pregnant friend was charged Friday with drowning the woman's three children in a bathtub and hiding the bodies in a washing machine and dryer.

Grand jurors indicted Tiffany Hall, 24, on three counts of first-degree murder in the East St. Louis deaths last September.

Hall admitted she drowned DeMond Tunstall, 7; Ivan Tunstall-Collins, 2; and Jinela Tunstall, 1, Illinois State Police investigator David Bivens testified during a coroner's inquest last week. The coroner's jury ruled all the deaths were homicides.

Hall has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the oldest child and intentional homicide in the death of her 7-month fetus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if she is convicted of those charges.

One of Hall's attorneys, James Gomric, declined to comment Friday.

Authorities said the arraignment on the new charges likely won't be until next month. Hall remains jailed on $5 million bond.

ALEC BALDWIN EXPLAINS TIRADE ON WEB SITE

LOS ANGELES — As Alec Baldwin's angry words to his daughter were being broadcast around the world, the 49-year-old actor explained himself Friday on his Web site.

"Although I have been told by numerous people not to worry too much, as all parents lose their patience with their kids, I am most saddened that this was released to the media because of what it does to a child," he wrote. "I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now. You have to go through this to understand. (Although I hope you never do.) I am sorry for what happened. But I am equally sorry that a court order was violated, which had deliberately been put under seal in this case."

A voicemail Baldwin left for his 11-year-old daughter, in which he can be heard calling her "a rude, thoughtless little pig," was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com.

Baldwin and his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, have been engaged in bitter custody disputes over their daughter, Ireland, since the couple divorced in 2002.

STOCKS SOAR; DOW JONES HITS ANOTHER RECORD

NEW YORK — Wall Street bounded higher Friday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrial average to a record close approaching 13,000 as investors celebrated a week of surprisingly strong earnings reports. The major indexes all had their third straight winning week, their longest such streak since October.

Investors who had tempered their expectations for first-quarter earnings on Monday were energized by the initial wave of upbeat results.

Better-than-expected results allowed stocks to extend their best April rally in four years, and one that pushed the Nasdaq composite index and the Standard & Poor's 500 index to six-year highs.

"It's not a matter of 13,000 for the Dow; we could be looking at 14,000 by the end of the year," said Robert Froehlich, chief investment strategist for investment firm DWS Scudder.