WASHINGTON — As the United States military prepares to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning a remarkable civilian effort, buttressed by a small army of contractors, to fill the void. 
 
 By October 2011, the State Department will assume responsibility for training the Iraqi police, a task that will largely be carried out by contractors. With no American soldiers to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq, it will be up to American diplomats in two new $100 million outposts to head off potential confrontations between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish pesh merga forces. 
 
 To protect the civilians in a country that is still home to insurgents with Al Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias, the State Department is planning to more than double its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000, according to administration officials who disclosed new details of the plan. Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress, the officials said. 
 
 “I don’t think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the U.S. military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale,” said James Dobbins, a former ambassador who has seen his share of trouble spots as a special envoy for Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo and Somalia. “It is unprecedented in scale.” 
 
 White House officials expressed confidence that the transfer to civilians — about 2,400 people who would work at the Baghdad embassy and other diplomatic sites — would be carried out on schedule, and that they could fulfill their mission of helping bring stability to Iraq. 
 
 “The really big picture that we have seen in Iraq over the last year and a half to two years is this: the number of violent incidents is significantly down, the competence of Iraqi security forces is significantly up, and politics has emerged as the basic way of doing business in Iraq,” said Antony J. Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “If that trend continues, and I acknowledge it is an ‘if,’ that creates a much better context for dealing with the very significant and serious problems that remain in Iraq.” 
 
 But the tiny military presence under the Obama administration’s plan — limited to several dozen to several hundred officers in an embassy office who would help the Iraqis purchase and field new American military equipment — and the civilians’ growing portfolio have led some veteran Iraq hands to suggest that thousands of additional troops will be needed after 2011. 
 
 “We need strategic patience here,” Ryan C. Crocker, who served as ambassador in Iraq from 2007 until early 2009, said in an interview. “Our timetables are getting out ahead of Iraqi reality. We do have an Iraqi partner in this. We certainly are not the ones making unilateral decisions anymore. But if they come to us later on this year requesting that we jointly relook at the post-2011 period, it is going to be in our strategic interest to be responsive.” 
 
 The array of tasks for which American troops are likely to be needed, military experts and some Iraqi officials say, include training Iraqi forces to operate and logistically support new M-1 tanks, artillery and F-16s they intend to acquire from the Americans; protecting Iraq’s airspace until the country can rebuild its air force; and perhaps assisting Iraq’s special operations units in carrying out counterterrorism operations. 
 
 Such an arrangement would need to be negotiated with Iraqi officials, who insisted on the 2011 deadline in the agreement with the Bush administration for removing American forces. With the Obama administration in campaign mode for the coming midterm elections and Iraqi politicians yet to form a government, the question of what future military presence might be needed has been all but banished from public discussion. 
 
 “The administration does not want to touch this question right now,” said one administration official involved in Iraq issues, adding that military officers had suggested that 5,000 to 10,000 troops might be needed. “It runs counter to their political argument that we are getting out of these messy places,” the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, added. “And it would be quite counterproductive to talk this way in front of the Iraqis. If the Iraqis want us, they should be the demandeur.” ||||| U.S. military officials are hustling to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to 50,000 to meet President Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for an end to U.S. combat operations, but as troops leave, the administration reportedly is planning to double the number of private security guards in the country. 
 
 A senior military official in Iraq said the Defense Department will meet the deadline for exiting combat troops. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 "We are sitting around 55k and will be down to 50k by 1 September," the official wrote in an e-mail to Fox News. 
 
 The bulk of the 4th Stryker Brigade from the 2nd Infantry Division left the country on Thursday. Approximately 100 members of the brigade remain in Iraq to handle various administrative and supply issues. They will be out of the country within days. 
 
 After Aug. 31, the mission in Iraq will no longer be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom and will instead be known as Operation New Dawn. 
 
 Obama, who had imposed an end-of-the-month deadline for the pullout in February 2009, called it a milestone in the war though the remaining 50,000 support troops will stay in Iraq until the end of next year to train Iraqi forces. 
 
 The U.S. still has "a significant amount of influence" in Iraq, and the mission will be to provide support and help the country grow and "give economic development" assistance, said Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, a spokesman for Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. 
 
 When the last of the military troops leave at the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning to more than double the number of private security guards it has in Iraq -- up to 7,000 -- The New York Times reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed administration officials. 
 
 The U.S. State Department move is aimed at protecting civilians still exposed to Al Qaeda-linked insurgents and Iranian-backed militias. At the same time, Afghanistan is asking the United States to remove a bulk of its 45,000 private contractors from the country. 
 
 Contractors employed by the State Department will train the Iraqi police and U.S. diplomats in two new $100 million outposts will be left to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq. 
 
 The security contractors, defending five fortified compounds around the country, will operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and staff quick reaction forces to help civilians in distress, the officials told the Times. 
 
 As the exit of the troops was shown live on TV in the U.S. Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described the end of combat operations as a "historic moment," but vowed that America's long-term commitment was unwavering. 
 
 "The last thing that we want to see is an occasion where we have to send troops back into Iraq yet again so we are ending the combat phase of our involvement in Iraq for a second time," he said. 
 
 "We're not ending our involvement in Iraq. We will have important work to do. This is a transition. This is not the end of something. It's a transition to something different. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq." 
 
 Crowley said that after spending $1 trillion in Iraq and with 4,400 lives lost, the conflict had come "at high expense." 
 
 "We've invested heavily in Iraq and have to do everything we can to preserve that investment to integrate Iraq, along with the neighborhood, into a much more peaceful situation that serves their interests as well as ours. But this is a historic moment." 
 
 Obama said the events were the beginning of the pullout he promised when he became president. 
 
 "As we mark this milestone in the Iraq war and our troops continue to move out of Iraq, I hope you'll join me in thanking them, and all of our troops and military families, for their service," Obama said. 
 
 "My administration will continue to do our part to support the brave men and women in uniform that have sacrificed so much. But supporting our troops and their families is not just the job of the federal government; it's the responsibility of all Americans. 
 
 "Shortly after taking office, I put forward a plan to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Today, I'm pleased to report that -- thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq -- our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops. 
 
 "Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year. Meanwhile, we will continue to build a strong partnership with the Iraqi people with an increased civilian commitment and diplomatic effort." 
 
 NewsCore contributed to this report.
– The US military may be rolling out of Iraq, but American civilians are not. To protect its outposts, the State Department plans to double the number of private security guards on the ground, finds the New York Times. As many as 7,000 guards will search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones, and continue training Iraqi police. “We need strategic patience here,” says a former US ambassador to Iraq. “Our timetables are getting out ahead of Iraqi reality." "I don’t think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the US military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale,” said another former ambassador. But, notes Fox News, the contractors won't be entirely on their own—some 50,000 US troops are staying behind through the end of 2011 to train Iraqi forces. (Click here to read about al-Qaeda in Iraq's post-withdrawal plans.)