By Waleed Ibrahim BAGHDAD, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Iraq's army hopes to become fully self-sufficient by mid-2009, the defence minister said on Saturday, the same date by which Baghdad hopes U.S. patrols of Iraqi towns and cities will end. Iraqi and U.S. negotiators are trying to reach a deal allowing U.S. forces to remain in Iraq when a United Nations mandate expires at the end of 2008. "We must truly stand on our own two feet. We made a promise to the Iraqi people that we are going to undertake all the tasks of our role by the middle or end of 2009," Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim told reporters in Baghdad. As Iraq's army has grown in confidence, Baghdad has pressed for firm dates for the departure of American forces. Iraq wants to end U.S. patrols of towns and cities by the middle of next year and for all combat troops to leave by October 2010. Other soldiers would leave a few years later. U.S. President George W. Bush has resisted calls for a timetable, committing only to the inclusion of a "time horizon" in any security deal. U.S. military support for the Iraqi army has been crucial, particularly for logistical and aerial support. Jassim acknowledged that most of the army still needed backup. There are about 144,000 American troops in Iraq. Largely successful crackdowns by the Iraqi army on southern militias and a drop in violence to four-year lows in recent months has boosted the army's confidence. Its exact size was not immediately available, but Jassim said its growth had been dramatic. "Before, you could count the number of battalions on two hands. Now we have more than 14 fully-equipped divisions," he said. Iraqi officials have said they hope to present the security pact they are negotiating with Washington to parliament after its summer recess ends in September. The United States has similar pacts with several other countries. Sticking points include the power of the U.S. military to detain Iraqi citizens and Washington's insistence that its soldiers be immune from prosecution by Iraqi courts. (Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
A wounded Iraqi soldier is helped by a U.S. soldier (L) from the Second Stryker Cavalry Regiment and another Iraqi soldier at the site where an explosive device went of inside ...
