Gates sees long-term low-level US presence in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States may have a military presence in Iraq for a ''prolonged period'' and drew a comparison with US bases in Germany and South Korea.

Gates, however, also said the United States had no desire for permanent bases in Iraq and any long-term military presence in the country would be far smaller than the current force level of some 140,000 US troops.

''I think that at a very much reduced level we will probably have some presence in Iraq, as we have had in Korea and Germany and a variety of other places around the world where we've been at war, for a prolonged period of time, a number of years,'' Gates told the US Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday.

Gates said even if President George W Bush's plan to increase US troops in Iraq helped quell violence there, Iraqi forces would still need US military help with logistics, communications, intelligence gathering and training.

The United States has had forces in Germany since World II and in South Korea since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

''We clearly have no desire for permanent bases in Iraq,'' Gates said.

REUTERS SBA RN0552