Iraq extra troops to stay beyond summer: U.S.

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The new American commander in Iraq said on Thursday military force alone will not end violence without political reconciliation and said U.S. troop reinforcements will probably stay "well beyond the summer".

General David Petraeus, at his first news conference since he took command last month, said it was "critical" that Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki engage some militant groups in peace talks to end the bloodshed threatening to tear Iraq apart.

"There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq," he said. "Military action is necessary ... but it is not sufficient."

Political progress would require talking with "some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them".

As Iraq prepares to host a regional conference with neighbors and world powers on Saturday in Baghdad, Petraeus said a key challenge for Maliki was to bring "reconcilable" militant groups into the U.S.-backed political process.

Speaking a day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved his request for an extra 2,200 military police to support a Baghdad security push, Petraeus said he saw no immediate need for more U.S. troops.

But he warned insurgents might launch more "sensational attacks" of the kind that have killed more than 200 people in the last three days, including many Shi'ite pilgrims in the holy city of Kerbala.

"Right now we do not see other requests (for troops) looming out there. That's not to say that some emerging mission or emerging task will not require that, and if it does then we will ask for that," Petraeus told reporters.

President Bush is sending 21,500 more troops, mostly to Baghdad, under a plan to rid the capital of Sunni Arab militants and Shi'ite militias. The push is regarded as the last chance to avoid a descent into all-out civil war.

Asked about media reports the additional 21,500 troops would need to stay in Iraq until early 2008, Petraeus said:

"I've certainly not reached a conclusion yet about that.

"I think you generally think that if you're going to achieve the kind of effects that we probably need, I would think it would need to be sustained certainly some time well beyond the summer, but again we'll have to see."

Washington has not said exactly how long the troop buildup will last. The United States has 140,000 troops in Iraq.

"ORANGE JUICE" DIPLOMACY

In an apparent diplomatic overture, the United States said on Thursday it will not "walk away" from bilateral talks with Iran or Syria at a neighbors conference in Baghdad this weekend if either country approached it to discuss stabilizing Iraq.