No Iraqi deal unless withdrawal date given

IRAQ’S national security adviser said yesterday his country will not accept any security deal with the US unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of US-led forces.

The comments by Mouwaffak al-Rubaie were the strongest yet by an Iraqi official about the deal under negotiation with US officials. They came a day after Iraq’s prime minister first said he expects the pending troop deal with the US to have some type of timetable for withdrawal.

US President George Bush has said he opposes a timetable. The White House said it did not believe Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for US troop withdrawals.

US officials made no comment yesterday on al-Rubaie’s statement.

Al-Rubaie spoke after briefing Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf on the progress of the government’s security efforts and the talks.

“Our stance in the negotiations underway with the American side will be strong... We will not accept any memorandum of understanding that doesn’t have specific dates to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq,” said al-Rubaie.

Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite lawmaker and a prominent official in the prime minister’s party, said that Iraq was linking the timetable proposal to the ongoing hand-over of various provinces to Iraqi control.

The Iraqi proposal stipulates that, once Iraqi forces have resumed security responsibility in all 18 of Iraq’s provinces, US-led forces would then withdraw from all cities.

After that, the country’s security situation would be reviewed every six months, for three to five years, to decide when US-led troops would pull out entirely, said al-Adeeb.

So far, the US has handed control of nine of 18 provinces to Iraqi officials.

“This is what the Iraqi people want, the parliament and other Iraqi leaders,” said al-Adeeb.

The proposal, as outlined by al-Adeeb, is phrased in a way that would allow Iraqi officials to tell the Iraqi public that it includes a specific timetable and dates for a US withdrawal.

However, it also would provide the US some flexibility on timing because the dates of the provincial hand-overs are not set.