"This has nothing to do with coalition troops in Iraq," Rumsfeld

KADENA AIR FORCE BASE, Japan, November 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday, November 16, a plan to turn over Iraq to transitional government will have no effect on U.S. military presence in the country.

"This has nothing to do with coalition troops in Iraq," Rumsfeld told reporters as he visited the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The timetable or a way ahead that the Governing Council is describing relates to the governance aspect of the country and not the security aspect, which run on a separate track," Rumsfeld said.

Elections will be held in Iraq before the end of 2005, according to an agreement signed and announced Saturday between U.S. overseer Paul Bremer and Jalal Talabani, current chair of the interim Iraqi Governing Council.

Rumsfeld said the United States continues to pursue its effort to train and equip Iraqi forces, which he described as "good clip."

He emphasized the deployment of U.S. forces was a separate matter from the plan to speed up the political transition in Iraq.

"There is narrow change in security situation. They are on the same path that they were on last week, last month," he said.

"We are making plans for the location of our forces.... And the announcement with respect to Iraqi governance does not have a relationship to that," he added.

Other officials were quoted by AFP as confirming that U.S.-led troops will remain in Iraq even after power is handed to the Iraqis by end-June 2004, staying in the country for a period of time that will be clarified next March.

A British official told AFP that a new agreement outlining a timetable for Iraqi self-rule, signed Saturday by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's interim Governing Council, will define "the role and the basis of the deployment" of the forces once sovereignty is transferred to an Iraqi administration.

The official said the two sides could, for instance, agree that the troops stay for one additional year with the possibility of further extending their mission depending on the security situation.

The handover agreement says the Governing Council and Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) will strike by end-March 2004 "security agreements to cover status of coalition forces in Iraq, giving wide latitude to provide for the safety and security of the Iraqi people."

The document also outlines steps that should be taken ahead of holding elections for a new government by December 2005.

A coalition military spokesman told AFP the troops "will adjust as appropriate, making sure that the security apparatus in place is sufficient to guarantee the security of the Iraqi people."

Governing Council members, for their part, said the U.S.-led forces were needed until an Iraqi police force and army can ensure internal and external security, adding that their presence until then would not necessarily infringe on Iraqi sovereignty.

"All the U.S.-led forces will not leave Iraq once the agreement is totally implemented" and an elected government formed, said Kurdish council member Mahmud Osman.

"The occupation is one thing and the agreement on the presence of U.S. troops is another," Naseer Chaderchi, a Sunni Arab council member, was quoted by AFP as saying.

"Unless we need them, for example in order to avoid a civil war, I'm among those who would not accept" an extension of the coalition military presence, Chaderchi added.

"A competent administration would automatically lead to a U.S. withdrawal," said Shiite member Ibrahim Jaafari.

The handover agreement provides for both the CPA and Governing Council's dissolution by June 30, 2004, when a new transitional administration is in effect.

"By June 30, 2004, the new transitional administration will be recognized by the coalition, and will assume full sovereign powers for governing Iraq. The CPA will dissolve," said the text of the agreement.

The new administration should be formed by a transitional national assembly to be selected "no later than May 31, 2004," it added.