US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he envisions some level of American troops in Iraq for a "protracted period of time," possibly under a South Korea-like security arrangement and with the agreement of the Iraqi government.

"What I'm thinking in terms of is a mutual agreement where some force of Americans -- mutually agreed with mutually agreed missions -- is present for a protracted period of time," Gates said in Hawaii, where he was visiting the US Pacific Command in Hawaii on the way to security talks in Singapore.

"I think that the reason Korea has been mentioned is -- and it's been mentioned in contrast to Vietnam, where we just left lock, stock and barrel -- the idea is more a model of a mutually agreed arrangement whereby we have an enduring presence, but one that is by consent of both parties, and under certain conditions," Gates said.

On the issue of US forces in Iraq, US President George W. Bush has cited the South Korea security arrangement -- a more than 50-year US presence -- in looking to the future role of the US in Iraq.

"I think the point (the president) is trying to make is that the situation in Iraq, and indeed, the larger war on terror, are things that are going to take a long time," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday.

Currently there are about 147,000 US troops in Iraq, and when the military buildup, announced by Bush in January this year, is completed, the number would reach as high as 160,000.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2007)