MANCHESTER, N.H., Oct 11 (Reuters) - Peacekeeping troops from Arab countries and Turkey should replace U.S. forces in Iraq within a year, and Iran and Syria should serve as guarantors of regional stability, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said on Thursday.

Iran and Syria, regarded as a state sponsor of terrorism by Washington, should agree not to interfere in Iraq, the New Mexico governor said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

"They would sign on to say, 'We will respect the boundaries and the territorial integrity of Iraq,'" Richardson said at an elementary school in Manchester.

"The troops would be U.N. troops, I wouldn't object to NATO troops, but principally I think they should be Arab troops."

Those troops should come from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, but not Syria, he said.

New Hampshire is one of the states holding early votes, likely in January, to choose Democratic and Republican nominees for the November 2008 election.

Richardson, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for former President Bill Clinton, has called for a complete U.S. pullout from Iraq within a year and said his Democratic presidential rivals are less committed to ending American involvement there.

Opinion polls show Richardson trailing Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, with about 9 percent of the vote in New Hampshire and about 3 percent nationwide. (Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Scott Malone, Jane Sutton and Tim Gaynor in Manchester)

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