WASHINGTON, July 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. has declared its willingness that NATO plays a leading role in Iraq, in an attempt to reduce recent U.S. casualties owing to Iraqi resistance attacks, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper quoted NATO and U.S. officials as saying Thursday, July 10.

A U.S. high-ranking official has underlined the desire of the U.S. administration that NATO takes over, particularly after U.S. casualties reached 212 soldiers, 143 of whom got killed in Iraqi battles, according to Pentagon statistics, the London-based paper added.

Out of the total number of U.S. casualties, 74 died since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared the end of military operations in Iraq.

"I think the U.S. public opinion will be content when NATO provides assistance in Iraq. The Americans believe in NATO and will deem its participation in administering Iraqi affairs as extremely positive," the paper quoted a U.S. official, who asked not to be named.

The democratic senator Joseph Lieberman, the Presidential Democrat rival, requested the U.S. administration to send more U.S. troops to Iraq and spend more resources there.

He underlined in a Washington Post article, published on Monday, July 7, that the U.S. President should request the NATO to take over the command in Iraq as soon as possible.

On his part, Joseph Bedin, a Democrat member of the Congress Foreign Relations Committee, demanded NATO's participation in the occupation of Iraq.

He said in a press conference held in June 2003 that NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson had told him that the NATO was ready for participation but had never been asked to.

"U.S. has submitted a general proposal to the effect that NATO plays a bigger role in Iraq in the future. This matter could be debated by next fall," Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted a high-ranking NATO official as saying.

The official, who requested not to be named, added that Iraq will follow in the footsteps of Afghanistan, as the NATO will take over there in August 2003. yet, calls upon NATO to share responsibility in Iraq, at a time when U.S. troops are exposed to such attacks there, could embarrass U.S. President George Bush's administration.

"The current problem is that things do not go on as the Americans hoped, and hence it is not a proper time to seek the assistance of others," the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat paper quoted George Washington University's European expert and senior researcher of Foreign Relations Council James Goldgire as saying.

He also pointed out that such a decision needs a U.N. mandate, which the U.S. has failed to obtain before launching its war on Iraq.

Some analysts said that the U.S. could stay in Iraq one way or another for five to ten years and it could face real dangers, once Iraqis realize that the U.S. authorities will not be able to suppress any revolution, following methods similar to those of Saddam Hussein.

Research professor of strategic studies institute in Philadelphia Andrew Terril told Reuters on Thursday, July 10, that in case of the spread of the revolution, some states will refuse to participate in peace keeping forces.

This means that the U.S. should move quickly through establishing a security system managed by Iraqis themselves or seek international peace keeping forces from Islamic states such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In a joint report prior to the invasion in March 2003, Terril and Crene advised senior officials of the army that the U.S. may face an uprising within 12 months.

Crene said that the U.S. troops had few civilians and military policemen who are capable of performing non-combat operations.

"We need assistance through the provision of experienced international units. Units of Islamic states could be admissible and more aware of the situation than western troops," he said.

Crene said that the U.S. could also request the assistance of France and Russia that had opposed the war on Iraq.