Iraq rejects permanent US bases

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BAGHDAD, Dec 11 (Reuters): Iraq will never allow the United States (US) to keep permanent military bases on its soil, the government's national security adviser has said.
"We need the United States in our war against terrorism, we need them to guard our border sometimes, we need them for economic support and we need them for diplomatic and political support," Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said.
"But I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," he said, speaking to Dubai-based al Arabiya television in an interview broadcast late Monday.
The US has around 160,000 troops in Iraq, officially under a United Nations mandate enacted after the US-led invasion in 2003.