* Media portrayals often exaggerate Iraqi violence-US
* U.S.-Iraq pact calls for US withdrawal by end-2011 (Adds comments, background)
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. military's planned withdrawal from Iraq by the end of next year is not expected to trigger a dramatic increase in violence, a senior U.S. defense official told Congress on Thursday.
"Despite the often exaggerated media narrative that depicts Iraq on the verge of unraveling, the underlying security situation remains strong," Colin Kahl, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said in prepared remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
Overall violence has fallen sharply in Iraq since the height of the sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007 but killings and bombings still occur daily, followed every few weeks by a major, devastating assault by insurgents.
Kahl acknowledged recent, high-profile attacks by al Qaeda-led insurgents but said, "These attacks have repeatedly failed to accomplish (al Qaeda in Iraq's) objective: to spark a return to widespread insurgency and communal civil war."
U.S. public attention has largely shifted away from the unpopular Iraq war, which has cost the United States nearly $1 trillion dollars and killed more than 4,400 U.S. troops.
U.S. combat operations officially ended in August and the remaining 50,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq must leave the country by the end of 2011 under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
"Our military footprint on the ground is currently so light compared to what it used to be that the remaining drawdown is very unlikely to trigger a dramatic uptick in violence," Kahl said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has repeatedly said he is open to a conversation about keeping some additional forces in Iraq if its new government chooses to make such a request. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Bill Trott)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
