Iraq to reject US deal without pullout timetable

NUMBERS DOWN: There are now 146,000 US troops in Iraq. (AFP)

Iraq on Tuesday said it will reject any security pact with the United States unless it sets a date for the pullout of US-led foreign troops, a proposal turned down by US President George W. Bush.

The controversial demand for a timetable from Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government underlines Iraq's new hardened stand in complex negotiations aimed at striking a security deal with Washington.

"We will not accept any memorandum of understanding if it does not give a specific date for a complete withdrawal of foreign troops," Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security advisor, told reporters in the holy city of Najaf.

Al-Rubaie, after paying a visit to revered Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, said it was proving "very difficult" to set such a date.

But "the Iraqi government has spoken about its date, while the foreign party has spoken about its date", he said. "Till now we have not arrived at an agreement on this issue."

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki told Arab ambassadors in Abu Dhabi that he was seeking a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops as part of a security agreement with Washington.

"The direction we are taking is to have a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to have a timetable for their withdrawal," Al-Maliki is quoted as saying.

The White House reacted later on Monday by saying it was not negotiating a "hard date" for a US withdrawal from Iraq but it did not rule out "time-frames" discussions with Baghdad.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the talks were aimed at reaching agreement on a framework for future US-Iraqi relations and on the arrangements to govern the US military presence.

"It is important to understand that these are not talks on a hard date for a withdrawal," he said. "When you make an agreement," he added, however, "that doesn't mean that there won't be some understanding of time-frames."

Baghdad and Washington are negotiating a deal that would see the presence of US-led forces beyond 2008 when the UN mandate which provides the legal basis for a foreign troop presence in Iraq expires.

The security pact, also known as Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), has to be signed by July 31 according to a previous agreement between Bush and Al-Maliki.

The negotiations have been more difficult than expected, and the prospect of an agreement in the final months of the Bush administration has aroused controversy in political circles in both Iraq and the United States.

Shi'ite and Sunni politicians have raised objections, and Democrats in the US Congress have expressed fears that any agreement would tie the hands of the next president.

The sticking points have been the duration of a defence pact, how many bases Washington should retain, what powers the US military should continue to hold to detain Iraqis, and what immunity US troops should have.

The negotiations come amid a marked improvement in the security situation in Iraq that has allowed a drawdown of US forces, which now number 146,000, down from over 160,000.

On Tuesday, Republican White House candidate John McCain warned that security conditions must dictate troop withdrawals.

But his Democratic foe Barack Obama, an early opponent of the war who wants to pull out most combat troops within 16 months, said it was encouraging that Iraq now wanted to work out a timetable for withdrawal.

"We will withdraw, but... the victory we have achieved so far is fragile and [the redeployment] has to be dictated by events and on the ground," McCain said in an interview with MSNBC.

Obama cast Al-Maliki's remarks as in line with his own policy on Iraq.

"I think it's encouraging... that the prime minister himself now acknowledges that in cooperation with Iraq, it's time for American forces to start sending out a timeframe for the withdrawal," the Illinois senator said.

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