美国国防部说，希望尽快把安全责任移交给伊拉克部队，但是移交时间取决于具体情况。美国国防部发言人星期二重申了这一立场，作为对伊拉克总理要求美国在2011年前撤军的声明的回应。

As public jockeying continues in the final stages of U.S.-Iraq negotiations on the future presence of U.S. forces, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Makiki weighed in Tuesday, saying he wants all U.S. forces out by a fixed date in 2011. It appeared he was referring to all troops, not just combat units. Officials have usually been careful to differentiate between combat units and non-combat troops, who handle such missions as supply, logistics, medical services, air support and a variety of other tasks that the Iraqi military is not close to being able to provide for itself.

随着美国和伊拉克关于驻伊美军前途问题的谈判进入最后阶段，官方的公开争论仍在继续。伊拉克总理马利基星期二提出，他希望美军在2011年的一个确定日期之前全部撤离伊拉克。看来他指的是所有部队，不只是战斗部队。有关官员一直很小心地区分战斗部队和非战斗部队，非战斗部队承担的是物资供应、后勤、医疗服务、空中支援等伊拉克军方在一定时期内根本无法自立的各种任务。

Later, other Iraqi officials were quoted as saying that even if the agreement calls for all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq, the government could later decide to invite some support troops to remain.

稍后，人们援引另一些伊拉克官员的话说，即使有关协议要求所有美军撤离伊拉克，但是伊拉克政府日后也可能决定邀请某些辅助部队留在伊拉克。

At the Pentagon, Spokesman Bryan Whitman had this response to Tuesday's statements in Baghdad.

美国国防部发言人怀特曼对巴格达星期二的有关声明作出回应说：

"We share the same common goal as the Iraqi government, and that is to turn over more and more of the security responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces," he said. "That's proceeding well. But at the end of the day, nothing changes from the fact that we believe strongly that the withdrawal of U.S. forces, of coalition forces, ought to be based on the conditions on the ground. And what we are seeing is a dramatically improved situation in Iraq, with respect to security, and an ever increasingly capable Iraqi security force."

“我们和伊拉克政府抱有共同的目标，就是把越来越多的安全职责移交给伊拉克安全部队。这一程序进展良好。但是归根到底我们的立场不变，就是我们坚信：美军和联军的撤离应当基于实地情况。我们目前看到的是伊拉克在安全方面的形势大为改善，伊拉克安全部队的能力在不断提高。”

Whitman said it is that increasing capability that is making it possible to even discuss the withdrawal of U.S. forces. He also said Prime Minister Maliki's statement outlined "some aspirational goals that are fairly far into the future." And he said there is still no final agreement on all the terms of the pending accord.

怀特曼说，正是由于伊拉克安全部队能力的不断提高，我们才有可能讨论美军的撤离。他还说，马利基总理的声明简述了“某些向往中的目标，要在相当遥远的将来才能达到”。他说，还没就这个尚未达成的协议中的全部条款取得最终一致意见。