No timetable in draft deal on U.S. troops: Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi negotiators completed a draft deal on Wednesday to give U.S. troops a legal basis to stay in Iraq after 2008, without setting out a timetable for their withdrawal, Iraq's top negotiator said.

The White House denied that the long-awaited deal -- which will replace a U.N. Security Council resolution that now provides the basis for the U.S. presence -- had been finalized.

"The delegations finished the draft which now goes to the political leaders for discussions," chief Iraqi negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud told Reuters. Iraq's political leadership must approve it and submit it to parliament.

He said the draft did not spell out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, and also leaves unresolved the thorny question of whether U.S. troops will be subject to Iraqi law.

Those issues will be resolved in further negotiations.

Iraqi officials have said for weeks that the deal is close and they hope to present it to parliament when lawmakers return from the summer recess.

But issues such as a timeline for withdrawing troops, their immunity from Iraqi law and the status of prisoners held by U.S. forces, have held up a final deal.

Asked about the draft in Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said "discussions with the Iraqis on a bilateral agreement are ongoing." Asked if that meant there was still no deal, he said "Right."

There are now about 144,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Iraqi officials have said they would like a future deal to limit the U.S. presence on Iraqi streets by mid-2009, and for U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn by 2010 or 2011.

The earlier timetable for withdrawal is similar to that proposed by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who says he wants combat troops out by mid-2010.

The U.S. administration has long opposed a strict timetable, but began speaking last month of "time horizons" and "aspirational goals" for withdrawal.

(Reporting by Wisam Mohammed, writing by Tim Cocks, editing by Tim Pearce)