Odierno: No sign Iraqis will ask U.S. to stay

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com – The Iraqi government isn’t likely to ask American troops to remain in the country beyond a 2011 withdrawal deadline, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Tuesday. “Officials also are considering sending several thousand more U.S. soldiers home this year — in addition to 12,000 troops who will leave Iraq by September — if security improves over the next six months,” Gen. Ray Odierno told The Associated Press. Under the agreement, all U.S. soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq at the end of 2011, and President Barack Obama has ordered an end of combat operations by September 2010. “I think that the Iraq leadership is focused on that this ends in 2011,” Odierno said during a half-hour interview. The general said he has not discussed the possibility of extending the U.S. military’s stay to fight gunmen and train national security forces — with Iraq officials. And it may be too early to predict whether that will happen, Odierno said. Still, “the progress we’re making now and what I see today, I say that I don’t see anything that would have us have to re-negotiate in 2011,” Odierno said. “But again, I never say never,” he added. Safety remains unpredictable at best — and has the potential to crater — in north Iraq regions around Mosul, Diala and Kirkuk, Odierno said. He cited gains in the areas such as Anbar province, Basra and around Baghdad, where a suicide bomber on Tuesday attacked a market on the edge of the city, killing 33. “I could potentially pull out another brigade, and it’ll be based on how I see how things have gone,” Odierno said.   SH (S)/SR 1