U.S. says drawdown from Iraq on track despite violence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Wednesday only an "extraordinarily dire" deterioration in security in Iraq would prompt it to consider slowing down a U.S. troop withdrawal from the country.

The United States plans to reduce its troop levels in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August, from about the current 96,000, and the Pentagon has sought to tamp down growing speculation that violence in the run-up to or following Sunday's national election could throw off that timetable.

"Everything suggests at this point, despite the bombing in Baquba, that we are on target to meet the president's policy goal of having us down to 50,000 troops in Iraq come September the 1st of this year. Everything is trending in that direction," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Wednesday's suicide bombings in Baquba, Iraq, killed 33 people, but Morrell said: "Neither this attack nor any of the previous attempts to derail the electoral process and to destabilize the government have been or will be successful."

Asked if a U.S. combat brigade could be asked to remain behind in the country beyond August because of deteriorating security, Morrell told reporters: "It would take an extraordinarily dire turn of events for that to be something we were to consider."

The comments were the strongest to date by the Pentagon to play down suggestions that U.S. forces will not be able to end combat operations in August ahead of a full withdrawal by end-2011, as President Barack Obama promised.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month that it would take a "pretty considerable deterioration of the situation" to warrant slowing down the pull-out.

Morrell described Sunday's parliamentary poll as the first in Iraq "not taking place during a large-scale insurgency and widespread sectarian violence."

He said U.S. troops would stand ready to assist Iraqi security forces with any emergencies "if called upon."

The Pentagon plans to maintain current troop levels through the election and "in the weeks following" to ensure a peaceful Iraqi transition, Morrell said.

"But once that has been established, we are prepared to draw down dramatically to get to the president's goal of 50,000 U.S. forces on the ground come September the 1st," he added.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Adam Entous; editing by Jackie Frank and Cynthia Osterman)