Iraq may demand timetable for U.S. to get out

BAGHDAD — A majority of Iraq's parliament has expressed support for a proposed bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels.

Much like what Democrats have demanded in the U.S. Congress, the Iraq draft would create a timeline for a gradual departure and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament's approval before further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007.

"We haven't asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces; we asked that we should build our security forces and make them qualified and at that point there would be a withdrawal," said Baha al-Araji, a parliamentarian allied with anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters drafted the bill. "But no one can accept the occupation of his country."

In Washington, White House officials reacted skeptically. "The prime minister, the president and the vice presidents of Iraq have made it clear that they think U.S. troops are needed in Iraq," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "We've heard these claims before [from al-Sadr supporters], but they rarely materialize."

It's also unclear whether approval by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani or Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would be necessary for the measure to become law.

President Bush has fought similar efforts in Congress to impose a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal. He vetoed legislation last week that would have required U.S. forces to begin leaving Iraq this year. The House on Thursday passed legislation that would release $43 billion immediately for military operations but would tie future money to Iraqi approval of laws dividing oil revenues among Iraq's ethnic groups and permitting some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to hold government jobs.

In both Iraq and the United States, frustration is deepening among lawmakers and the public over Bush's elevated troop levels, a policy that has yet to prevent widespread violence. At the same time, Bush and al-Maliki are dispatching emissaries in an urgent trans-Atlantic gambit to shore up support.

Iraq's national-security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, was in Washington before Thursday's House vote to ask Democrats to have patience with Bush's strategy and to not abandon Iraq at such a precarious time. Vice President Dick Cheney landed in Baghdad on Wednesday to press the government to act quickly on divisive political issues that the Bush administration deems necessary for long-term stability.

But as in the United States, Iraq's lawmakers are moving further away from top leaders, particularly on the issue of an American presence in Iraq.

The draft bill is being championed by a 30-member bloc loyal to al-Sadr, and it has gained support from other Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish legislators. As many as 144 lawmakers have signed the proposal, a majority in the 275-member parliament.

"We think that America has committed a grave injustice against the Iraqi people and against the glorious history of Iraq, when they destroyed our institutions, and then rebuilt them in the wrong way," said Hussein al-Falluji, from the largest Sunni coalition in parliament, and a supporter of the timetable proposal.

Several legislators, including those loyal to al-Maliki, doubted the effort would succeed at a time when Iraqi troops still rely heavily on U.S. firepower. The most prominent political parties in Iraq, such as al-Maliki's Dawa party; the Shiite group known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni group; and prominent Kurdish factions appear to not support setting specific dates for withdrawal. Even if such dates are established, it is unclear whether that will compel the United States to obey them.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Unless we complete building our forces so we are capable of defending the country, and bringing security to the country, then we are not ready for something like this," said Hachim al-Hassani, a secular Sunni from the Iraqi National List and a former parliament speaker. "A premature withdrawal could lead to a civil war in Iraq."

Ali al-Adeeb, a Dawa party lawmaker and an aide to al-Maliki, said any withdrawal timetable should be accompanied by one for training and equipping Iraqi security forces.

"Pressures are increasing here in Iraq and also in the states for the withdrawal of the multinational forces ... and it seems that keeping these forces here indefinitely won't solve the problems in Iraq," he said. "But it should happen gradually so that Iraqi forces can handle the security tasks."

There also was disagreement over terms of proposed timetable legislation. Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press that he agreed to back the measure on the condition it include an accompanying timeline for the buildup of Iraqi forces, but this was not included in the draft, which he called a "deception."

Hassan al-Shimmari, a Shiite who leads the Fadhila party, also signed the petition and had similar concerns. "At the time being," he said, "we can all see that it's not possible for the American troops to leave, and that withdrawing right now would lead to a disaster in Iraq, because the Iraqi security forces are still very weak, and they are still controlled by their sectarian and factional loyalties."