US troops in Iraq after 2011

US: Any question about the issue has been cleared up by General Raymond Odierno, commander of the US forces in Iraq saying that the Pentagon's troops could be in Iraq for long after 2011.

That confirmed the opinions of commentators and analysts who say that the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is a relative fact, because that country continues to be occupied, despite Washington's attempts to make it seem as though it were the opposite case.

It is true that the 4th Stryker Brigade, comprising 4,000 combat troops, left Iraq August 19, in a move that more than a few saw as symbolic of the end of military operations there and the army's shift to a diplomatic role.

Instead, however, the Pentagon left 52,000 soldiers in Iraq - 2,000 are expected to leave August 31 and the US Department of State announced a 50-percent jump in contractors for security work up to 7,000 troops.

Of course, the White House has asserted that the forces it will keep in the Arab nation will carry out missions of advise and training for Iraqi forces in what they have dubbed Operation New Dawn.

However Gen. Odierno made it clear: 2011 will not be the year of total withdrawal; troops may remain.

Moreover, a condition was set: US combat forces will only return to Iraq if the Iraqis "completely fail," the high-ranking US military officer said on the Sunday news programs "Face the Nation" and "State of the Union," on CBS and CNN television. Washington, Prensa Latina