Major General John Kelly, just returned from Iraq as commander of US forces in the country's west, said it was realistic that US troops could leave some parts of Iraq within 16 months as President Barack Obama promised before his election in November.

"Sixteen months is a very doable number in certain parts of Iraq," Kelly told reporters.

He added he was optimistic that the small number of remaining flashpoints in Iraq could be contained before the end of 2011, when US troops are to depart Iraq under a recent agreement between Washington and Baghdad.

"There are other parts of Iraq that aren't doing so well but all of Iraq is doing pretty well," Kelly said.

"I think those hot spots will be taken care of long before 2011."

Kelly's comments came as the Obama administration balances competing needs for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the US military commander in Iraq favoring a slower pace of withdrawal for American troops.

The drop in violence and an increasingly effective Iraqi police and army were paving the way for an eventual departure of US combat forces, he said.

"If the objective is zero violence in the nation of Iraq, it's impossible. But if the objective is that violence is manageable by the Iraqi police and army, we're all but there throughout most of the country," he said.

He said while there was a danger posed by pulling out troops too quickly, there was also a risk that accompanied keeping too large a force in place.

"It impedes the progress of the mission in Iraq if you have keep too many forces in Iraq because they get in the way," he said.

In the once volatile Al-Anbar province, where Kelly oversaw US troops, scaling back the role of the US military allowed the Iraqi police and army to take over security responsibilities in the area, he said.

"A key realization for me in the springtime, as long as we had forces closely associated with the Iraqi army and Iraqi police, they never truly would take it from us because they were always under instruction if you will."

He said American forces in his sector were reduced from 38,000 to 23,000 over his 13-month tour, as a larger force was no longer needed.

The general said the Iraqi people had turned against Al-Qaeda and that the terror network would not be able to reverse gains by the US military and the Baghdad government.

"These guys have nowhere to run," Kelly said. Militants could no longer move easily across the Syrian border after joint efforts with US forces and Iraqi border police, he said.

"There's very little movement across the Syrian border any more," he said.

The White House is weighing several options for US troop withdrawals from Iraq, with timetables ranging from Obama's campaign pledge of 16 months, a 19-month plan or a 23-month scenario.

In his first week in the White House, Obama asked top military commanders to draw up plans for a "responsible" military withdrawal from Iraq, where there are about 142,000 US troops.

earlier related report
US soldier killed, three shot in Iraq police station
A US soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at an Iraqi police station in the northern city of Mosul, the American military said on Wednesday.

A US military spokesman told AFP that one of four soldiers wounded in Tuesday's shooting had died of his wounds, while an Iraqi interpreter was also killed and a second one wounded.

"One of the soldiers died of his wounds," said US Defense Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ryder in Washington.

An Iraqi deputy interior minister condemned the shooting, which one of his officials said was the work of two rogue policemen for whom a manhunt has been launched.

"It was a criminal incident that in no way represents the position of the Iraqi government and Iraqi police," General Hussein Ali Kamel, who is in charge of intelligence at the ministry, told AFP.

Earlier, the official had said two policemen had carried out the attack at the station in central Mosul, shooting dead four US soldiers and their local interpreter.

But the US military said there was only one fatality among its ranks.

The ministry source ruled out an insurgent attack, saying the assailants were known policemen from local tribes. He added that police and US forces had launched a manhunt at the policemen's homes in and around Mosul.

The latest incident was the third of its kind in Mosul, one of the country's most restive cities, involving American soldiers and Iraqi security forces since January 2008.

"At approximately 2:00 pm (11 GMT) today there was a small arms attack on an IP (police) station in Mosul. Coalition forces and Iraqi police were conducting a meeting at the time of the attack," the US military said in a statement.

The interior ministry official, declining to be named, told AFP that two Iraqi policemen opened fire at the Americans in the Dawasa district of central Mosul and then fled.

The shootings took place during a US army visit to the Mosul headquarters of the Iraqi police in charge of protecting the city's bridges and tunnels, local police said.

"An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause and nature of the attack," the US military said.

On November 12, an Iraqi soldier shot dead two US soldiers before being gunned down. A similar incident took place in January 2007, when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on American troops, killing two US soldiers.

US and Iraqi forces operate together throughout the country. The United States, which has 142,000 troops deployed in Iraq, has long said the training of Iraqi troops and police is a central part of its military strategy.

At least 4,252 US military personnel have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to an AFP tally based on the independent website www.icasualties.org.

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