Negotiators have finalized a deal that will see the complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2011, ending an eight-year occupation, the top Iraqi heading the team said yesterday.
Under the 27-point deal all US combat troops would be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by next June, negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud said.
The agreement has already been approved by US President George W. Bush and now needs to be endorsed by Iraqi leaders, he said.
Iraq and the US had agreed to “withdraw the US troops from Iraq by [the] end of 2011,” he said.
“The combat troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009. Both the parties have agreed on this,” he said. “The negotiators’ job is done. Now it is up to the leaders.”
The security pact would decide the future of US forces in Iraq once the present UN mandate, which provides the legal framework for the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, expires in December.
Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had agreed last November to formalize such an agreement by July 31.
The arrangement was delayed due to strong opposition from Iraqi leaders over key issues such as when US combat troops would withdraw from Iraq, how many bases Washington would retain and whether US troops would be immune from Iraqi laws.
Hammoud said all issues had been addressed in the deal.
However, he said that there was a possibility that US troops could leave before 2011 or remain beyond the target date.
“There is a provision that says the withdrawal could be done even before 2011 or extended beyond 2011 depending on the [security] situation,” he said.
Hammoud said that even if the withdrawal takes place by 2011, some US troops could remain “to train Iraqi security forces.”
He said the issue of how many bases Washington would retain in Iraq depended on the number of troops left behind for training purposes.
“The number of US military bases would depend on the size and the needs of the troops,” he said.
A number of committees would also look into offences committed by US troops in Iraq.
The immunity offered to US soldiers currently in Iraq has been one of the main sticking points in the negotiations, which began in February.
In a surprise one-day visit to Iraq on Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the two countries were “very, very close” to finalizing the agreement but had not yet clinched the deal.
On Thursday Zebari, however, went a step further and said the text of the deal was ready.
“We are very close, we have a text, but not the final agreement. Everything has been addressed,” Zebari said.
However, the deal has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq’s political factions. And any deal would first have to be ratified by the Iraqi parliament and the veto-wielding presidency council.
The White House said on Thursday that US lawmakers would not be asked to approve the pact.
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