Sadrists see 'proof' that US won't honor pullout pact

US plans to keep support troops in Iraqi cities beyond a June 2009 pullback target date were cited by a Shiite party on Sunday as proof of Washington's intention to cheat on a landmark security deal with Baghdad. The top US commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, said on Saturday that troops would remain in Iraqi cities in a support and training role even after the June 30 target date for the withdrawal of combat troops set by a security agreement signed last month. The Shiite movement of Moqtada al-Sadr, which strongly opposed the agreement, said Odierno's remarks showed that Washington had no intention of sticking by any of the deadlines set in the deal. "As we predicted, the comments fly in the face of the security agreement," the head of the movement's political bureau, Liwaa Sumeissim, told AFP in the central shrine city of Najaf. "When we rejected the agreement, we did so because we were totally convinced that the US side would never feel bound by it, particularly when it conflicted with motives that brought them here. "We do not believe the US administration feels bound by the agreement and we are convinced it will find any pretext to keep its troops" beyond the December 2011 deadline set for a full withdrawal, Sumeissim said. Last month's deal set June 30 next year as the deadline for "the withdrawal of combat forces from the cities, villages, and localities." But Odierno said on Saturday that that deadline did not apply to trainers, advisers or other support troops. "So we will continue to provide assistance with transition teams," the general said. "We will still provide enablers to security forces. They are unable to provide those to themselves." Odierno declined to say how many US troops would be assigned to the transition teams, and what percentage of the 146,000-strong US force they would represent. "Those are things we are going to negotiate in our implementation agreement," he said.