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Baghdad: US and Iraqi negotiators have ended efforts to reach a formal security pact before President George W. Bush leaves office in favour of an interim deal, the Washington Post said on Sunday, citing senior US officials.
The two sides had been negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement that would provide a legal basis for US troops to remain when a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.
But in the past week Iraqi leaders have spoken of only agreeing what they call a memorandum of understanding. Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has also raised for the first time the idea of setting a timetable for US troops to leave Iraq.
The Washington Post quoted one US official close to the negotiations as saying "we are talking about dates", even though Bush has previously rebuffed calls for a timetable.
Withdrawal timetable
Iraqi Vice-President Tareq Al Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, added his support for a withdrawal timetable.
"Iraqis must know when the American and other forces will leave Iraqi land. It is our right to know, and know the truth of where the situation stands, if there is an intention for American forces to leave or not," Al Hashemi told Iraqiya state television in an interview broadcast late on Saturday.
The Post said the "bridge" security document would be limited in both time and scope and would allow basic US military operations to continue once the UN mandate ended.
Iraq has rejected a number of Washington's demands, insisting they infringe on the country's sovereignty.
The document now under discussion with Iraq was likely to cover only 2009, the Post said.
Negotiators expected it to include a "time horizon", with specific goals for a US troop withdrawal from Baghdad and other cities and installations, it added.
The fixed dates are likely to include caveats referring to the ability of Iraqi forces to take over security.
The most contentious unresolved issue was the legal immunity of US troops in Iraq, the Post reported.
US officials have said this is non-negotiable. But Iraq's deputy parliament speaker has said lawmakers would probably veto any deal that gave US soldiers immunity from Iraqi law.
The Bush administration has always opposed setting any withdrawal timetable, saying to do so would allow militant groups to lie low and wait until US troops in Iraq have left.r
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