Iraq May Ask Troops To Stay On

Reuter reports:

President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Pentagon said on Thursday he expected Iraq to eventually ask Washington to keep U.S. troops in the country beyond an end-2011 deadline for their withdrawal.

When it does, the United States should say "yes," outgoing CIA chief Leon Panetta told a Senate committee weighing his nomination to become the next secretary of defense.

"It's clear to me that Iraq is considering the possibility of making a request for some kind of (troop) presence to remain there," Panetta said.

He said that he had "every confidence" the request would be "forthcoming at some point."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led coalition government is debating the sensitive question of whether to ask Washington to keep some of the 47,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq, if only in a training and advisory role.

But at least one group in Maliki's coalition, the Sadr block led by anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, fiercely opposes any U.S. troops staying on past 2011, the date set for all U.S. troops to leave the country under a bilateral security pact.

U.S. and Iraqi military commanders are concerned Iraq's armed forces may not be fully ready to defend the country alone, with Washington pointing to gaps in Iraqi air defense, intelligence fusion, logistics and more.