Iraq, Iraq Troop Withdrawal | featured news

President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq faced difficult days ahead after taking control of its towns and cities from U.S. forces but he pledged to remain a strong partner on behalf of the country's security and prosperity.

Tuesday marks the long-anticipated deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraqi towns and cities, but on Monday, there will be no long lines of tanks rolling out of Baghdad or thousands of troops marching out of other cities.

At least seven bombs exploded around the country Thursday amid a up-tick in violence as American troops prepare to withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30.

U.S. combat forces will vacate all Iraqi cities on schedule by the end of this month, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Tuesday, including the insurgent stronghold of Mosul.

The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said Sunday he believes U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011.

The United States' top military officer said on Sunday he was "comfortable" with President Barack Obama's plan to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 18 months.

President Obama's planned announcement Friday to remove most U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2010 will free up more forces for the worsening fight in Afghanistan and help the Army end a policy that holds soldiers past enlistment periods, military officials and experts say.

U.S. military planners have drawn up three options to allow President Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq, with senior commanders favoring the slowest of the three, officials said on Saturday.

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 18 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.