http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/25/AR2008082500771.html
Maliki Demands All U.S. Troops Pull Out by 2011 - Iraqi Leader Pushes Hard on Accord
Washington Post, The (DC) - August 26, 2008
Author: Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demanded a complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq by 2011 as he embarked Monday on an attempt to win support among Iraqi leaders for a draft security accord with the United States.
Maliki’s comments appeared to be an attempt to extract further concessions from American officials, less than a week after both sides said they had agreed to remove all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2011, if the security situation remained relatively stable, but leave other American forces in place. The U.S. plan is to leave as many as 40,000 troops to continue to assist Iraq in training, logistics and intelligence for an undefined period.
Speaking before a gathering of tribal leaders in the heavily fortified Green Zone, Maliki said for the first time that the United States had agreed to withdraw all troops — not just combat brigades — as part of a security accord governing U.S. forces in Iraq, and that the withdrawal schedule must be firm. But American officials said no accord had been reached and insisted that any withdrawal be based on conditions at the time.
“There is an agreement between both sides that no foreign soldiers will be in Iraq after 2011,” Maliki said. He added that the accord “must be based on a specific deadline for the withdrawal of foreign forces and that it should not be open.”
His remarks are likely to complicate the debate in the U.S. presidential campaign over how best to conduct an American military pullout from Iraq. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has opposed a firm timeline for withdrawal but suggested that troops be out of Iraq by 2013. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, has called for U.S. combat troops to leave by mid-2010.
Maliki and U.S. officials cautioned that differences remained over the complex accord, known as a status-of-forces agreement, and that talks were continuing.
“An agreement has not been signed, and so from our perspective, there is no agreement until there’s an agreement signed,” said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. “But any decisions on troops will be based on the conditions on the ground in Iraq. That has always been our position; it continues to be our position.”
U.S. officials, however, have signaled willingness to compromise with Maliki’s government in order to sign an agreement by the end of President Bush’s term. There is additional pressure because the United Nations’ authorization for American troops to remain in Iraq expires at the end of the year; if no accord is signed before then, U.S. troops will have no legal basis to remain in the country.
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I wonder if BO talked to Maliki as well.