HARRISBURG — Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge believes time is running out for the U.S. to show success in Iraq as the Bush administration deals with a war that is becoming more and more unpopular.

Ridge, a Republican who stepped down as Pennsylvania's governor to become the nation's first homeland security director in 2001, said U.S. leaders are eventually going to have to decide how and when to pull American forces from Iraq.

"There is very little sand left in the hourglass of Iraq," said Ridge, who was in Derry Township on Saturday to speak to a group of Pennsylvania Republicans. "There's more sand at the bottom of the hourglass than at the top, and at some point of time ... somebody's going to have to make a decision on when or how we make a withdrawal."

Ridge, who was appointed homeland security director by President Bush, said September 2008 was a realistic date for beginning to withdraw troops. He said he did not expect Congress or the president to set withdrawal deadlines within the next two months, as some Democrats have proposed.

Ridge's comments came several days after Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and others suggested that the U.S. strategy in Iraq was not working.

"You cannot sustain an unpopular war forever," Ridge said.