US forces will remain in Iraq beyond the end of the current UN mandate, but a continued US troop presence will not tie the hands of a future US president, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in a newspaper column Wednesday.

"It is clear ... that US forces will need to operate in Iraq beyond the end of this year for progress in stabilizing Iraq to continue," the top US diplomatic and military officials wrote in The Washington Post.

http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2008/02/13/us_troops_must_stay_in_iraq_beyond_2008_gates_rice/afp/