Negotiators Say US Troops to Leave Iraq by 2011
By VOA News
22 August 2008
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators are reported to have agreed on the complete withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by 2011 - if conditions are right.
The officials are quoted Friday as saying the draft agreement also calls for U.S. forces to pull back from Iraqi cities by June 2009.
Iraq's chief negotiator, Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, says although negotiators on both sides agreed to the timetable, the pace of the U.S. troop pullout can be changed depending on conditions in Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Baghdad for a brief visit Thursday, said both sides had been close to a security deal that will determine the future status of U.S. forces in Iraq. But she said it contained what she described as an "aspirational" timetable - as opposed to any firm dates - for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after the talks that a draft security agreement has been sent to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for review.
Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr denounced Rice's visit, and called on Iraqi leaders to reject any deal that allows U.S. forces to continue what he calls their "occupation" of Iraq.
U.S. officials say the proposed security pact calls for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities and relocate to bases in Iraq as soon as next June.
The security deal would govern U.S. troop levels in Iraq after the U.S. force's U.N. mandate expires at the end of this year. The two sides also are discussing how much immunity U.S. soldiers will have from Iraqi law.
The Bush administration says it will inform Congress when a deal is reached but will not submit the document to lawmakers for approval.
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