Rumsfeld warns against early Iraq troop pull-out

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today warned against pulling U S troops out of Iraq prematurely, saying it would be seen as a victory by extremists who want to control a region extending beyond West Asia.

''If we left Iraq prematurely as the terrorists demand, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the West Asia,'' he told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing.

''And if we left the West Asia, they'd order us and all those who don't share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines,'' he said.

''And then we would face not only the evil ideology of these extremists, but an enemy that will have grown accustomed to succeeding in telling free people everywhere what to do.'' Testifying about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the Bush administration wants to bring U.S. troops home but those decisions must be warranted by conditions on the ground.

The head of U S Central Command, Army Gen John Abizaid, also played down prospects for reducing troop levels in Iraq this year because of violence in Baghdad.

The United States has about 133,000 troops in Iraq.

Abizaid called the sectarian violence the worst he had yet seen in Baghdad, and said it could lead to civil war.

''Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular,'' he said. ''If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.'' Republican Sen John Warner of Virginia, the committee's chairman, suggested the Bush administration might have to come back to Congress for authorisation to remain in Iraq if the situation descends into civil war.

Sectarian violence in Baghdad has intensified despite a security crackdown that has added thousands of troops to the streets. The Pentagon last week agreed to add more than 3,000 troops to Iraq's capital, extending those soldiers' deployments.

Marine Corps Gen Peter Pace, the top U S military officer, was asked by a senator if he would have seen the chance of civil war a year ago. He replied, ''No sir.'' REUTERS SBA RS2139