BAGHDAD, July 5 (UPI) -- A disintegration of state institutions is leaving Iraq exposed to the influence of foreign elements, a former interim prime minister said from Italy.
Former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, leader of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya slate, said during a conference on the Middle East and North Africa in Italy that outsiders were meddling in Iraq's internal affairs, the Iraqi satellite news agency al-Sumaria reports.
The Iraqi government is struggling to evolve more than a year after parliamentary elections. The country's prime minister is said to be reviewing the size of the government as U.S. forces in the country get ready to pull out at the end of the year.
Allawi said extremists groups were growing influential in Iraq because of the disintegration of state institutions, the report added.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iraq are stepping forward in support of a Dec. 31 deadline for U.S. forces to leave the country. The deadline was secured in 2008 bilateral status of forces agreement.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Financial Times there was "a compelling case" to keep some U.S. forces in the country.
There are 46,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would need broad support from a divided government to secure an extension.
