BAGHDAD, October 15, 2008 -- Iraqi leaders are pouring over a new draft of a proposed military pact with Washington that would set the terms of a US troop presence beyond this year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman said on Wednesday.
"We are talking about the draft today and yesterday and we will talk about it tomorrow. Then it will go to the Political Council for National Security before going to parliament," Yasin Majeed said, adding that he expected the discussions to continue into the first half of next week.
Last week, Maliki said that Washington had made "huge concessions" on the planned Status of Forces Agreement but that the issue of immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law for US troops remained a bone of contention.
The prime minister's spokesman said that further changes were likely to the latest text. "We cannot say it is a final draft," Majeed said.
Iraqi officials have said that the two sides have agreed that the pact will set a June 2009 deadline for a US pullout from Iraqi cities and a June 2011 date for a full withdrawal from the country.
But the two sides have disagreed on the precise powers of US troops in Iraq after the expiry of the UN mandate at the end of the year, particularly their authority to detain Iraqis and the command structure of military operations.