A319 CREW FAILED TO RETRACT GEAR AFTER TKOF BECAUSE OF A DISTR OF LOOKING FOR A LIGHT ACFT THAT WAS OFF AHEAD OF THEM.

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DISTR BY ANOTHER ACFT; WE FAILED TO RETRACT GEAR UNTIL WE WERE INTO DEP TURN AND ABOVE 500 FT AGL. AS WITH MOST AVIATION DISTRS; ONE ANALYZES THEM AFTER THE FACT IN AN EFFORT TO PREVENT THEM IN THE FUTURE. I UNDERSTAND MY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY REGARDING THIS DISTR AND; WHILST NOT DIMINISHING IT TO NIL; I FIND THAT I AM MOST UNHAPPY WITH ATC FOR UNNECESSARILY PUTTING US IN THE DISTR STATE. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOLLOWS: 1) TAXI INTO POS AND HOLD ON RWY -- NO ONE IN FRONT OR BEHIND US -- NO FLOW RESTRS. 2) ATC TAXIED LIGHT ACFT INTO POS AND HOLD HALFWAY DOWN RWY -- WE COULD BARELY SEE IT. 3) ATC INFORMED US ABOUT INTXN DEP. 4) ATC CLRED LIGHT ACFT FOR TKOF AND STRAIGHT OUT DEP; 5) ATC CLRED US FOR TKOF AND IMMEDIATE L TURN TO AVOID SLOW ACFT ON STRAIGHT OUT DEP. 6) BOTH OF US WERE IMMEDIATELY LOOKING FOR LIGHT ACFT INSTEAD OF RETRACTING GEAR. THE WHOLE SCENARIO WAS UNNECESSARY. AFTER ALREADY CLRING US INTO POS; THERE WAS NO REASON TO GET THE LIGHT ACFT OUT IN FRONT OF US. ATC HAS THE BIG PICTURE HERE. THE SMALLER ACFT WAS NOT REALLY VISIBLE TO US AND WHEN IT DID BECOME VISIBLE IT LOOKED PRETTY SLOW. HAD WE HAD AN ENG FAILURE WE WOULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED FROM FLYING STRAIGHT. WE COULD HAVE REFUSED TO TAKE OFF; BUT WE TRUSTED ATC TO HAVE THE BIG PICTURE.