Iraq deputy PM warns on early U.S. pullout

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An early pullout of American soldiers from Iraq will trigger a full-scale civil war and spark a wider conflict in the region, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, said.

Salih said that was the message he had given a stream of U.S. lawmakers visiting Baghdad in the lead-up to pivotal testimony that President George W. Bush's top officials in Iraq will present to the U.S. Congress in around two weeks.

"A premature withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be a disaster, not only for Iraq, but for the region and the international community as a whole," Salih said in an interview with Reuters late on Monday.

"It will lead to an all-out civil war, it will lead to a regional war in my opinion because the fate of Iraq is crucial to the regional balance and to regional security."

Opposition Democrats and some senior Republicans have called for U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq after more than four years of war that has killed 3,700 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to appear before Congress in the second week of September.

Their testimony on Iraq's security and political situation could prompt a shift in Washington's Iraq policy.

Bush is under mounting pressure to show Iraq's weak and divided Shi'ite-led government that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended. However, he has pleaded for patience and cited progress in recent months after a reduction in militant attacks.