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U.S. diplomat: Troops in Iraq into '09

WASHINGTON - President Bush's top diplomat in Iraq said Friday that the United States plans to keep combat troops there into 2009, seen as the tipping point for establishing the nation's long-term security, and he offered no deadline for a full withdrawal.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker told the Associated Press that he can't make any promises if, as the Democratic candidates have signaled, the next president pulls forces out faster or in greater numbers.

Crocker said that America remains "a center of gravity" in Iraq almost five years after the invasion, and that violence and political developments both hinge to a considerable degree on whether U.S. forces remain there.

Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, will make their next report to Congress in April.

Iran then, now

Iran is stronger today because of the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Friday. The 2003 invasion of Iraq removed a key rival of Shiite Iran with the ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government, and the removal of the Taliban improved Iran's relations with Afghanistan.

"It's helped Iran's relative position in the region, because Iraq was a rival of Iran ... and the balance there has disintegrated or weakened," Khalilzad said while answering questions from students at Columbia University in New York. "... And Afghanistan, too, the change was helpful to Iran."

[Last modified February 2, 2008, 01:41:09]