Iraqi politicians call for troops withdrawal timetable

A majority of Iraqi politicians have signed draft legislation that calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.

They also demanded a freeze on the number of such troops already in the country.

The legislation was being discussed even as US politicians were locked in a dispute with the White House over their call to start reducing the size of the US force here in the coming months.

Draft Iraqi legislation, drafted by the parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was signed by 144 members of the 275-member house, according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc.

The Sadrist bloc, which sees the US-led forces as an occupying army, has pushed similar bills before, but this was the first time it had received the support of a majority in parliament.

The bill would require the Iraqi government to seek approval from parliament before it requests an extension of the UN mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq, al-Rubaie said. It also calls for a timetable for the troop withdrawal and a freeze on the size of the foreign forces.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously in November to extend the US-led forces’ mandate until the end of 2007. The resolution, however, said the council “will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the government of Iraq”.

Al-Rubaie said he personally handed the Iraqi bill to speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

Deputy Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah said the draft legislation had not been officially submitted to the speaker, but was currently being reviewed by the house’s legal department, apparently the final step before it can be submitted.

Al-Rubaie said al-Mashhadani had a week to schedule a debate on the bill before he would use the majority that backs it to force a debate.

Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, which launched two uprisings against US troops in 2004, has been blamed in much of the recent sectarian violence against Sunnis and has been one of the main targets of a US-Iraqi security crackdown.

Last month, the cleric ordered his six Cabinet ministers to leave the government after Prime Minister Nouri Maliki refused to put a timetable for foreign troops withdrawal.