LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. forces should keep withdrawing from Iraq this year without a pause, Iraq's national security adviser said on Wednesday, disagreeing with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, whose post gives him a senior security role in the Iraqi government, said he would like to see U.S. forces draw down steadily to below 100,000 by the end of 2008.
He also said he thought it was unlikely American Democratic Party candidates for president would be able to keep pledges to rapidly pull out U.S. forces if they are elected this year to succeed President George W. Bush.
Gates, who visited Iraq on Monday, backed a "pause" in withdrawing American forces after 30,000 sent last year in a "surge" are withdrawn in the next few months.
"The notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Gates told reporters in Baghdad on Monday.
Rubaie told a small group of journalists at Iraq's embassy in London that he understood the arguments for a pause "to consolidate the gains" made over past months.
"I understand. But I believe phasing out and making it a continuous but slow withdrawal is better than pausing, as it gives continuity to the process," he said.
Plans already announced would bring the U.S. force down to 130,000 over the next four months, the level before last year's surge. General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, is due to report to Congress in coming weeks on forces needs beyond that point, and is expected to recommend a pause in further withdrawals........
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