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Iraqi Leader Insists U.S. Leave By 2011

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 06:00 CDT

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday that all foreign troops must leave Iraq by the end of 2011. It was the Iraqi leader's toughest public statement since the U.S. and Iraq began negotiations over a security agreement last March.

Iraqi government officials had previously said that, although Iraq wanted U.S. combat troops out by the end of 2011, the deadline was subject to change based on conditions on the ground.

Additionally, they had said, U.S. forces training Iraqi soldiers and necessary support forces would be allowed to remain past that date to address concerns that Iraq's military would be unprepared to guarantee security on their own.

However, al-Maliki told tribal leaders in Baghdad on Monday that "an open time limit is not acceptable in any security deal." He said Iraq was demanding that "no foreign soldier remains in Iraq after a specific deadline."

Al-Maliki is facing intense political pressure from within Iraq to take a hard line in the negotiations, which will establish a long-term legal framework for the presence of U.S. troops after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of this year. Both sides have said for weeks that a deal is close, but al-Maliki's comments suggest that fundamental details still need to be worked out.

The Iraqi Cabinet and parliament must sign off on a deal for it to be approved. Some parties, including the powerful followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, stridently oppose any agreement that doesn't include a binding timeline for withdrawal.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said negotiations were ongoing and repeated the U.S. position that the withdrawal must be linked to conditions in Iraq, the Associated Press reported.

"Any decisions on troops will be based on the conditions on the ground in Iraq. That has always been our position and continues to be our position," Fratto said Monday.

Ali al-Dabbagh, al-Maliki's spokesman, moved to soften his boss' statements after the speech. He said there would be a clause in the agreement that would allow U.S. troops to remain if Iraq felt its security forces weren't ready to assume full control of the country.

"We feel that by 2011, Iraq security forces will be in a situation to take over everything," al-Dabbagh said. "If not, there is a clause in the agreement that will entitle Iraqis to ask some of the troops to be left behind."

Six months ago, Iraq's minister of defense, Abdul Qadir, said Iraq would be unable to defend its borders without U.S. help until at least 2018.

U.S. military trainers in Iraq say much work remains to be done. The U.S. has just begun building the logistics and support networks for the country's security forces, which now number 581,000 soldiers and police.

"From our perspective, there's so much work to be done in building forces that it's going to take time," said Col. Steven Wujciak, a spokesman for U.S. military trainers in Iraq. "Of course, whatever echelons above us and the political people decide is up to them."

Wujciak declined to comment on whether the 2011 deadline was viable.

Source: USA TODAY

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