Iraqi VP warns of chaos if U.S. withdrawal premature Thu Mar 22, 5:56 AM ET



TOKYO (Reuters) - Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned on Thursday that his country could be thrown into chaos if U.S.-led coalition forces withdrew before his national troops were ready to handle security on their own. "We need the coalition forces to stay in       Iraq until our national troops are qualified enough to look after security," Hashemi told a think tank seminar in Tokyo, where he is on a four-day official visit.



"They are, at the time being, not."

His comments come as U.S. Democratic leaders predicted that the House of Representatives would pass a war-funding bill that sets a strict timetable for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq.

Under the House Democrats' bill, U.S. combat troops would have to be out of Iraq by September 1, 2008.

The White House has warned that       President George W. Bush would veto any bill with deadlines for withdrawal, but Democrats are anticipating that and are already eyeing other bills to which they could attach similar language, while building pressure for an end to the war.

Hashemi, speaking in English, welcomed a timetable for a withdrawal of U.S. forces but said it needed to be coupled with a clear reform plan of Iraqi national forces.

"If we say that we need one year, one and a half years or even two years to go into a detailed, comprehensive reform for MOD (Ministry of Defense) and MOI (Ministry of Interior) units, we need the coalition forces to stay until this job has been fulfilled," he said.

"If the American troops pull out, withdraw, before we complete this plan, there is a possibility that the country might slide into chaos and the chaos could lead to a civil war," he said, adding that it could also lead to regional unrest.

Hashemi, who is set to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, also said he wanted Tokyo's air force to expand its activities in supporting the coalition forces in Iraq, although he did not elaborate.

Abe said earlier this week that Tokyo planned to extend for another two years a law allowing its air force to fly support missions to Iraq.

Japan withdrew its 600 ground troops last year after a non-combat mission lasting more than two years, but about 200 air force personnel remain in Kuwait, where they airlift supplies to the U.S. military in Iraq.