Officials: Deal calls for troop pullback in Iraq
U.S. army soldiers from Fox Troop, Sabre Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment stand atop a Bradley armored vehicle as plumes of smoke rise from a burned irrigation canal in a deserted area on the outskirts of Balad Ruz, in Iraq's Diyala province, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. Two Iraqi officials this week said the U.S. had agreed to remove all U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and withdraw combat units by October 2010, with all American troops gone around 2013, but U.S. officials in Washington insisted that no firm dates have been agreed.
BAGHDAD (AP) _ Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have completed a draft security agreement that would see American troops leave Iraqi cities as soon as June 30, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
In Washington, a senior military official said the deal is acceptable to the U.S. side, subject to formal approval by President Bush. It also requires final acceptance by Iraqi leaders, and some members of Iraq's Cabinet oppose some provisions.
Also completed is a companion draft document, known as a strategic framework agreement, spelling out in broad terms the political, security and economic relationships between Iraq and the United States, the senior military official said. The official discussed the draft accords on condition that he not be identified by name because the deals have not been publicly announced and are not final.
In addition to spelling out that U.S. troops would move out of Iraqi cities by next summer,
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