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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed hope Monday that the United States and Iraq soon can reach agreement on a possible U.S. military training role in Iraq beyond Dec. 31, when all American troops are due to depart.
Panetta’s remarks contrasted with indications from a senior Obama administration official and a senior U.S. military official on Saturday that the U.S. is abandoning plans to keep any troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline — other than about 160 troops who would be attached to the U.S. Embassy.
In Iraq on Monday, a bomb blast near a Baghdad liquor store killed seven people and injured 18 others, Iraqi medical and police officials said. Three of the dead and five of the injured were policemen.
