Iraq will ask US troops to stay post-2011, says Panetta

[Guest guest]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13722786

10 June 2011 Last updated at 00:25 ET

Iraq will ask US troops to stay post-2011, says Panetta

Iraq will ask the US to keep troops in the country beyond an end-of-2011 pullout

deadline, says the nominee to be the next US defence secretary.

Outgoing CIA director Leon Panetta said he had " every confidence that a request

like that will be forthcoming " .

Mr Panetta was speaking at a US Senate committee considering his nomination.

The US currently has about 47,000 troops in Iraq, none in a combat role. Under a

2008 deal, they are expected to leave by 31 December 2011.

Inducements?

" It's clear to me that Iraq is considering the possibility of making a request

for some kind of [troop] presence to remain there [in Iraq], " Mr Panetta told

the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

He said that whether that happened depended on what Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri

Maliki might ask for.

But if Baghdad did make such a request, he added, Washington should say yes.

Mr Panetta did not say how many troops would be involved or what they would do.

He said there were still some 1,000 al-Qaeda members in Iraq, and the situation

remained " fragile " .

" I believe that we should take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that we

protect whatever progress we've made there, " Mr Panetta said.

The current US contingent is deployed in a training and advisory role.

In April, outgoing Defence Secretary Gates said that American troops

could, if required by Iraq, stay in the country beyond the withdrawal date.

Mr Gates had also expressed hope that Baghdad would make such a request.

The BBC's North in Washington says it seems likely that the US has

offered Iraq some inducements to maintain its troop presence.

But any suggestion that President Barack Obama will allow some American forces

to remain behind is bound to be seen as backpeddling by both his opponents and

supporters on his commitment to pull out entirely from Iraq by this year, our

correspondent says.

He adds that it will be controversial in Iraq as well, where there has been an

increase in attacks on US bases apparently aimed at derailing any moves to keep

American troops on.

US fatalities in Iraq have been rare since Washington officially ended combat

operations in the country last August.

But earlier this week, five American soldiers were killed in central Iraq, in

what is believed to be the US military's single most serious incident in the

country in more than two years.

[Guest guest]

Funny how both Bush and Obama trumpeted reports saying there were no Al Qaeda or other terrorists in Iraq. Of course that was always a lie because the ground troops knew they were there all along. I'd suspect the number was actually far greater than 1,000, if one includes local recruits.

No surprise that they want us to stay though. The Iraqi politicians know the US troops are all that is keeping a lid on the country. Some might like the idea of us leaving and the whole country blowing up because they think they can come out ahead. Some might, especially the Shia if Iran moves in, which is not unlikely.

In a message dated 6/10/2011 3:04:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

He said there were still some 1,000 al-Qaeda members in Iraq, and the situation remained "fragile".