Iraqi officials want US to stay

London & Washington: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Iraq would need US and British troops for another year or two.

"I think in one or two years we will be able to recruit our own army forces and say goodbye to our friends," the president told students in a lecture at Cambridge Universityin England.

Officials of Iraq's most powerful Shiite party said on Friday it would make key changes to its platform, in a move that will increasingly align it with Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani.

The changes could also distance the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) from neighbouring Shiite Iran, where the party was formed in the 1980s to oppose the late President Saddam Hussain.

US Democrats and some Republicans say Iraq's Shiite government must reach out to minority Sunni Arabs and reduce sectarian violence if it wants US forces to stay.

Meanwhile, worried that Congress' support for Iraq is deteriorating rapidly, Baghdad dispatched senior officials to Capitol Hill this week to warn members one-on-one that pulling out US troops would have disastrous consequences.

The lobbying push targeted Republicans and Democrats alike, but focused primarily on those considered influential on the war debate. On Thursday, hours before the House voted to limit funds for the war, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh met with more than 30 House Republicans and more than a half-dozen senators, including Senators Harry Reid, Democrat-Nevada, John Warner, Republican-Virginia, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat-New York.

"He understands that American patience is waning," said Senator Norm Coleman, after eating lunch with Saleh, Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir Al Sumaidaie and Senator Saxby Chambliss.

Baghdad's ability to sell members like Coleman, Republican-Minnessota, and Chambliss, Republican-Georgia, on the war effort is critical if the Iraqi government wants US troops to stay. Coleman in recent months has become deeply sceptical of the president's decision to send additional troops to Iraq and says patience on the war in general is limited.

Coleman, Chambliss and Senator John Sununu, Republican-New Hamphshire, who met separately with Saleh, will be up for re-election next year - facing voters who have grown tired of a war in its fifth year and that has killed more than 3,380 troops. While Republicans have been reluctant to intervene, many say President Bush has until September to tell if the troop buildup in Iraq is working before they demand another approach.

With the clock ticking, Saleh - a Kurdish politician highly regarded by US officials and who speaks impeccable English - said he came to Capitol Hill to convey the "imperative of success" in Iraq.

"Iraq is a central battleground in this historic conflict" against terrorism, he said in a brief interview after meeting with Reid, the Senate majority leader.

His trip came on the heels of a visit by Mowaffak Al Rubaie, the national security adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, along with three other senior advisers, according to the Iraqi embassy. The New York Times first reported Al Rubaie's visit on Tuesday.

The timing of these meetings is no mistake. This month, Congress is expected to send Bush legislation that funds the war in Iraq but requires the Baghdad government meet certain political and security reforms. In question is what consequences the Iraqis should face if they fail. Democrats want US troops to leave, Republicans say they don't want to force redeployments, but some say they would be open to withholding more than $5 billion in foreign aid.

The House voted 221-205 Thursday for a stronger measure that would fund the war only through July, giving Congress the option of cutting off money after that. The bill is unlikely to survive in the Senate, although it indicates the war's unpopularity among members and their frustration with the lack of progress in the Iraqi parliament.

The most recent irritant among US lawmakers was a report that Iraqi officials would break for two months this summer.

"Our armed forces are up to 150,000 troops; we're over $600 billion appropriated for this, lost 3,300 lives, 25,000 wounded fellow citizens. ... And the Iraqi answer? We're taking a summer off. Goin' fishing," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat-Illinois.

Saleh said he expects the vacation to be shortened by at least a month, although nothing had been decided.

He added that Iraqis value being independent and do "not take kindly of (US officials) telling us when to recess."

Democrats seemed to consider these meetings with Iraqi officials as beneficial - if only to convey their frustration to Iraqi officials in person.

Reid's spokesman Jim Manley said the senator told Saleh that "US patience, blood and treasure were not unlimited and that the Congress would be taking a more decisive role in the coming weeks and months."

"Salih understood the point, and said he would deliver the message to the Iraqi cabinet," Manley added.