Iraqi security adviser wants no troop withdrawal pause

By Peter Graff

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. forces should keep withdrawing from Iraq this year without a pause, Iraq's national security adviser said on Wednesday, disagreeing with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, whose post gives him a senior security role in the Iraqi government, said he would like to see U.S. forces draw down steadily to below 100,000 by the end of 2008.

He also said he thought it was unlikely American Democratic Party candidates for president would be able to keep pledges to rapidly pull out U.S. forces if they are elected this year to succeed President George W. Bush.

Gates, who visited Iraq on Monday, backed a "pause" in withdrawing American forces after 30,000 sent last year in a "surge" are withdrawn in the next few months.

"The notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Gates told reporters in Baghdad on Monday.

Rubaie told a small group of journalists at Iraq's embassy in London that he understood the arguments for a pause "to consolidate the gains" made over past months.

"I understand. But I believe phasing out and making it a continuous but slow withdrawal is better than pausing, as it gives continuity to the process," he said.

Plans already announced would bring the U.S. force down to 130,000 over the next four months, the level before last year's surge. General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, is due to report to Congress in coming weeks on forces needs beyond that point, and is expected to recommend a pause in further withdrawals.

"LEGISLATION LEFT RIGHT AND CENTRE"

Petraeus's last report to Congress in September last year said there were gains in security, but less progress in political reconciliation. Rubaie said the passage of three new laws on Tuesday was a sign that politics were catching up.

"I think he (Petraeus) is going to write a very good report, because there is huge progress on the political front. We have been passing legislation left, right and centre," Rubaie said.

Iraqi forces have taken security responsibility for nine of Iraq's 18 provinces, and Rubaie said they hoped to control all 18 "well before the end of the year", with the former insurgent stronghold Anbar province next in line in March.

Rubaie said he hoped the U.S. force would be "less than 100,000 by the end of this year", but Iraq would still need "some sort of help".

"We haven't finished fighting al Qaeda and we will probably not be declaring total victory in the next few months," he said.

The speed of U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq has become a battleground in the campaign to succeed Bush, especially as Senator John McCain, who supported the "surge", has emerged as the likely Republican nominee.

The new president would take command next January, and both main Democratic contenders, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have pledged to pull out quickly if they win.

Rubaie said Iraqi leaders were aware of Clinton's and Obama's positions and expected the rhetoric to intensify as the election drew nearer. But he also said he did not expect any Democrat to pull troops out too quickly once in office.

"When they are in the oval office, they will think twice and they will consult with the commanders on the ground," he said. "No American wants this mission to fail." (Editing by Matthew Jones)