FACTBOX: U.S. experts see little headway in Iraq this year

(Reuters) - The top U.S. officials in Iraq testify to Congress about conditions in Iraq on Tuesday and are likely to call for a pause in American troop withdrawals after July.

U.S. Commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus and the ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, appear first before the Senate committees on armed services and foreign relations.

Following are comments by six Iraq experts on what Iraq could look like when President George W. Bush's successor enters the White House in January:

* LEE HAMILTON, FORMER CO-CHAIRMAN OF THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP

"There will be a very, very difficult situation in Iraq for the next president.

"The next president will come into office with large number of American troops on the ground. There will be continuing casualties of American forces. There will likely be the same political gridlock within Iraq itself on the question of national reconciliation. You'll have a largely dysfunctional government ... you'll still have an al Qaeda presence."

* SEN. CARL LEVIN OF MICHIGAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE ARMED

SERVICES COMMITTEE

"I expect most of our troops to still be there. I expect there to continue to be political gridlock because of the (U.S.) refusal to give the Iraqis some kind of reasonable timetable for the removal of most of our troops.

"I'm afraid we'll continue to see the failure of the Iraqis to step up to their responsibilities."

* SEN. JON KYL OF ARIZONA, REPUBLICAN

"Next January or February, when a new president is sworn in and has had a couple weeks in office, I think you'll see fewer troops than will be the case by mid-year this year. I would hope that the progress both in reconstruction and politically will have continued and that we will have been able to maintain the lower levels of violence and the continued routing of al Qaeda. Now those are all hopes."

* SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN OF DELAWARE, CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE

FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

"I think things are going to be a whole hell of a lot worse in September.

"I am absolutely, positively and thoroughly convinced that the (Bush) administration has no notion about what to do. They are praying that they can hold this together without it completely imploding and hand it off to the next guy."

* LARRY DIAMOND, FORMER ADVISER TO THE COALITION

PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY IN BAGHDAD

"There are a lot of things converging to make the situation in Iraq increasingly shaky.

"It's hard to imagine that American force levels on January 20, 2009, will be lower than what they have been during the average moment in the Bush administration. I don't see them going anywhere below 130,000."

* MICHELE FLOURNOY OF THE CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN

SECURITY

"Even in the best case, Iraq would still suffer from a lot of internal instability and great uncertainty as to its future.

"The worst case scenario is that the Iraqis remain either unwilling or unable to reach political accommodation and the various factors that have contributed to recent improvements in security begin to unravel."

* MICHAEL O'HANLON OF THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION

"We'll do well to see even a modest reduction in overall violence from where we are now. I would welcome, frankly, not seeing any deterioration.

(Reporting by David Morgan)