Iraqis split over prospects of US withdrawal

BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (Reuters) An expected phased reduction in US troops in Iraq after the resignation of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left Iraqis split today whether a withdrawal would be in their best interest.

While a majority of Iraqis want to see the departure of Washington's 150,000 troops, according to a recent poll, many fear an early pullout would worsen an already bleak situation as rival groups may vie for control and violence escalates.

Abu Abdullah, a member of the Sunni minority from the northern city of Mosul, said his sect, fighting in an anti-US rebellion, needs US protection from Shi'ite militants.

''I prefer them to stay in Iraq because we Sunnis are very weak at the current time,'' the 38-year-old man said.

''If they withdraw, then the militias will become bolder and the fighting will increase,'' he added.

US officials say violence between the country's rival Muslim Shi'ite and Sunni sects has become more of a threat to Iraq's stability than the Sunni insurgency in central Iraq.

Others argue that the presence of US troops has not stopped daily killings and their absence may reduce violence.

''What good have they done in Iraq? If the Americans are holding us back from fighting terrorists then we don't need them,'' said Mohammed Khalil, 40-year-old Shi'ite tea vendor as he stirred sugar and cinnamons into his small glass.

''I see them as a hurdle to our ambitions, Iraq will become stable if they leave us alone,'' he added.

AN ARCHITECT OF WAR Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, of the Shi'ite majority community, has openly criticised the US military for not providing him more weaponry and more say over his own forces.

He has resisted US and Sunni pressure to disarm Shi'ite militias linked to parties in his coalition while insisting on the need to focus fighting against Saddam Hussein's Sunni Baath supporters and Sunni al Qaeda militants.

US officials have said Baghdad needs to stand up and assume control to pave the way for a US departure.

Rumsfeld is seen as an architect of the war that ousted Saddam.

He was a symbol of a policy that was under fire due to unrelenting violence in Iraq.

It was a major factor in losses by US President George W Bush's Republicans in congressional elections on Tuesday.

His replacement with former CIA boss Robert Gates signals a change in direction. Gates is a member of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel reviewing U.S. policy expected to produce recommendations in the coming weeks.

In the Shi'ite city of Hilla, Hashim al-Araji, a 55-year-old man who repairs cars, blamed Iraq's woes solely on the United States but still voiced pessimism for Iraq's future despite recent events in Washington.

''Will it make a difference if we asked them to leave?,'' he said. ''In the end, they are the only ones who can make that decision.'' Reuters AB GC2230