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　　据美国驻伊拉克大使透露，2011年年底前美军撤出全部驻伊拉克的部队后，美国驻伊拉克首都巴格达的大使馆将扩建一倍。目前，该大使馆已经是美国在全球范围内规模最大的使馆。

　　美国驻伊拉克大使詹姆斯·杰弗里(James Jeffrey)4月1日表示：“如果撤军计划进展顺利，如果2011年和2012年的拨款能顺利到位，我们将扩建一倍；到2012年，大使馆工作人员也将由现在的8000多人增加一倍。届时这里将成为一个拥有诸多设施、综合功能的超级大使馆，我们将接管驻伊美军的部分工作。”

　　杰弗里透露，美军撤离后将需要大批人员暂时留下来协助伊拉克军队，尤其需要一些军事顾问、训练人员，比如教授伊拉克军人使用美军的M1A1主战坦克和其他武器，约需要5500人负责大使馆和其他美国驻伊拉克机构的安保工作。他强调，增加的人员指的是外交官、私人安保人员、大使馆工作人员等，绝对不包括战斗部队。

　　目前驻伊美军人数已不足5万人，此前最多的时候驻伊美军达到17万人。

　　US Baghdad embassy will double in size: envoy

　　The US Embassy in Baghdad, already the largest in the world, is expected to double its staff after American forces pull out of the country later this year, Washington's envoy said on Friday。

　　"We'll be doubling our size if all of our plans go through and if we receive the money from Congress in 2011 and then again in 2012," James Jeffrey, the US ambassador in Iraq, told reporters。

　　He said the staff would increase "from 8,000 plus personnel that we have now to roughly double that by 2012," adding that US forces would make up only a very small part of that number。

　　"This will be an extraordinarily large embassy with many different functions. Some we took over from USFI (United States Forces in Iraq) and some of them continuation of the work we are doing now."

　　Jeffrey said that US military advisers and trainers would stay or be added to support the Iraqi military with US-made equipment such as M1A1 tanks and other weaponry. He said the added personnel would not include combat troops。

　　Fewer than 50,000 US troops are currently in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 and ahead of the planned full withdrawal in late 2011.

　　Jeffrey and Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the commander of US military forces in Iraq, told members of the Armed Services Committee in February that the embassy would be well protected after the withdrawal。

　　A private security force some 5,500 strong will protect the large US diplomatic presence in Iraq, Jeffrey told the lawmakers。

　　He and Austin said they were confident that the force was adequate, and that Iraq will remain stable once US troops have departed。

　　They said that in 2012, the American presence in Iraq will consist of up to 20,000 civilians at sites that include two embassy branches, two consulates, and three police training centres。

　　The figure includes armed private security personnel, support staff and diplomats。

　　Currently there are 2,700 armed security contractors in Iraq, Jeffrey told the senators。

　　(法新社)

　　(宇桓)