Troops to stay in Iraqi cities after June

BAGHDAD - Some American troops will remain in Iraqi cities after a June 30 deadline for combat soldiers to leave urban areas, the top US commander said yesterday.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions by his own spokesman that the Iraqi government may ask some US troops to remain behind as trainers after the Dec. 31, 2011, deadline for the withdrawal of all American troops set by the new US-Iraq security agreement.

Those comments are likely to rekindle debate in Iraq about the agreement, which was ratified by parliament last month and takes effect Jan. 1.

But Iraqi voters must approve the deal in a referendum by the end of July.

Suggestions of loopholes in the withdrawal timeline could be exploited by Iraqi politicians seeking to undermine Maliki ahead of the referendum. A number of Sunni and Shi'ite politicians, as well as the powerful Shi'ite clergy, accepted the deal after assurances from Maliki that the timetable for the US departure was firm.

General Raymond Odierno, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, told reporters that troops who serve in training and mentoring teams would not be included in the mandate to pull combat troops from the cities.

"We believe that's part of our transition teams," Odierno said at the US air base in Balad, where he met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He said the training and mentoring teams would stay at urban security stations to support Iraqi soldiers and police.

He did not say how many troops would remain in urban security stations, but said all locations would be coordinated with the Iraqi government based on its requirements.

A substantial drawdown is expected in the 149,000-strong US force in the coming year. President-elect Barack Obama pledged during the campaign to remove combat troops from Iraq within 16 months, leaving a smaller residual force through the end of 2011.

But US military officials are concerned there could be an upswing in violence in the run-up to provincial elections Jan. 31 and parliamentary balloting by the end of 2009.

"It's important that we maintain enough presence here that we can help them get through this year of transition," Odierno said. "We don't want to take a step backwards because we've made so much progress here."

Earlier, at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Gates warned that terrorists should not try to test Obama with a crisis in his first months in office. He also reiterated his criticism of Iran, accusing it of interfering in Iraq and Afghanistan, including supplying weapons and training to insurgents.

During the coming elections, Maliki is expected to present himself as the leader who defeated terrorism and ended the US occupation - an attractive message to a people worn out by nearly six years of war.

Maliki insisted that the security agreement include specific dates for a US withdrawal, winning those concessions from the Bush administration, which had steadfastly refused for years to accept a timetable for an end to the unpopular war.

Last week, however, chief government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters in Washington that some US troops might be needed to continue training Iraq's security forces well past the 2011 deadline contained in the security pact.

"We do understand that the Iraqi military is not going to be built out in the three years. We do need many more years. It might be 10 years," Dabbagh said.

He suggested that Iraq could negotiate a supplemental agreement providing for US trainers to stay on after 2011.

Nasir al-Saadi, a lawmaker loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said the comments showed the withdrawal timetable was meaningless.