US wants total pull-out from Iraq in three years

AMERICAN troops could withdraw completely from Iraq within three years, under a new deal being discussed today.

The US is drawing up a draft agreement with the Iraqi government that could see forces pulled out of towns and cities by the middle of 2009. All 144,000 US servicemen and women could then be brought home by the end of 2011.

Negotiators from the White House and Baghdad have been in talks for months over the future of troops when the UN mandate authorising their presence runs out on New Year's Eve. But today a Pentagon spokesman said they are on the brink of striking a deal that could leave the country in the hands of its own army.

"We are close, but not at the final status yet," said Geoff Morrell, while the State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "The Iraqis are considering the text, we are talking to the Iraqis."

A key obstacle so far has been the demand that US troops and contractors are given immunity from Iraqi law. US soldiers have been accused of several atrocities in Iraq, including the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and her family,.

Under the new agreement there is a crucial but unpopular compromise that gives Iraq limited ability to try US contractors or soldiers for major crimes committed off-duty and off-base - and only if a US-Iraqi committee agrees.

US soldiers have been accused of several atrocities while stationed in Iraq, including the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and her family, south of Baghdad. Four soldiers have pleaded guilty in a US court and a fifth, Steven Dale Green, is due to stand trial next year.

The Bush administration today launched a major lobbying campaign to persuade US Congress and disapproving Iraqi politicians to support the plan.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressing Iraqi leaders to accept the deal, and has told the Iraqis it is "the final offer" the administration will make.

Defence secretary Robert Gates has begun briefing key members of Congress, whose support is not crucial but would pave the way for wider approval.

"I am sceptical of any agreement that would subject US servicemen and women to the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts in the middle of a chaotic war," said Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate armed services committee.