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| Iraq | |
| US offers 10K troops for Iraq in 2012 | |
| 2011-07-06 | |
| BAGHDAD -- The White House is offering to keep up to 10,000 troops in Iraq next year, US officials say, despite opposition from many Iraqis and key Democratic Party allies who demand that President Barack Obama bring home the American military as promised. Any extension of the military's presence, however, depends on a formal request from Baghdad -- which must weigh questions about the readiness of Iraqi security forces against fears of renewed militant attacks and unrest if US soldiers stay beyond the December pullout deadline. Iraq is not expected to decide until September at the earliest, when the 46,000 US forces left in the country had hoped to start heading home. Already, though, the White House has worked out options to keep between 8,500 and 10,000 active-duty troops to continue training Iraqi security forces during 2012, according to senior Obama administration and US military officials. In Baghdad, the debate over whether US troops should stay past the deadline is topic No. 1 for Iraq's government. Iraq's top military commander, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, has long maintained that Iraqi security forces need another decade of training and aid before they are ready to protect the country alone, especially its air space and borders. Iraq sits on the fault line between Shiite powerhouse Iran and mostly Sunni nations across the rest of the Mideast, which share US concerns about Tehran's influence growing in Baghdad if American troops leave. Iraqi Kurds, who have long relied on American forces to protect them, are lobbying for US troops to stay. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refuses to publicly endorse a troops' extension. One of his critical political allies -- a Shiite movement headed by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- has threatened widespread violence if troops stay. Al-Sadr's militias once waged fierce attacks on US forces. Some of Iraq's Sunnis also oppose an extension. The Sunni Islamic Party in Iraq's northern Ninevah province, in a statement this week, called allowing the so-called "occupation forces" to remain "a great mistake against Iraq and its people." President Jalal Talabani plans a meeting as early as this week of Iraq's political leaders to discuss the troop issue -- which al-Maliki says he does not want to make alone. "All political groups should be making this decision, because we do not want to shoulder the responsibility alone for such a grave and sovereign issue," said Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Shilah, a member of the State of Law coalition headed by al-Maliki. "The situation is still complicated because all the political blocs are avoiding giving a final and clear decision on this." One of the main sticking points is how to ensure that troops on duty all have legal immunity from Iraqi courts if they remain. Al-Shilah called it "very difficult, if not impossible due to the complicated political situation."
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| Posted by:Steve White |