IRAQ:BAGHDAD - US and Iraqi negotiators completed a draft deal yesterday to give US 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 UN Security Council resolution that now provides the basis for the US presence - had been finalised.
"The delegations finished the draft which now goes to the political leaders for discussions," chief Iraqi negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud said. Iraq's political leadership must approve it and submit it to parliament.
He said the draft did not spell out a timetable for withdrawal and also left unresolved the question of whether US troops would be subject to Iraqi law. - ( Reuters)