Gates backs extended deployments in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved a request from his top military commander in Iraq for extended troop deployments beyond January elections.

Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, issued a request to Gates to extend the deployment of some forces by as much as 79 days following the January parliamentary elections.

"What we'll do is we'll hold that in place through the elections and about 60 days after the elections," Odierno told U.S. lawmakers last week. "And depending on how that goes, if it's peaceful, then we will make a determination of coming down to the 50,000-transition force by the first of September."

The U.S. Defense Department said the extensions would maintain "key capabilities" in the wake of the election and support the redeployment of remaining U.S. forces.

Raffie al-Issawi, the deputy prime minister of Iraq, met Odierno in Baghdad this week to stress the importance of the timetables outlined in the bilateral status of forces agreement between the two countries, the Voices of Iraq news agency reports.

Baghdad and Washington agreed to a bilateral security pact in 2008 that outlines the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces by the end of 2011. Odierno said U.S. combat forces deployed in Iraq would drop to 115,000 by the end of the year and to roughly 50,000 by summer 2010.