THE Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has abruptly postponed his visit to Australia this month so he can continue intense discussions with the United States over a controversial security deal.
Washington and Baghdad are in the middle of negotiating an accord that would set terms for the presence of American forces in Iraq after the UN mandate expires in December.
Key members of the Iraqi parliament's largest bloc yesterday called for all American troops to leave the country in 2011, as a condition for allowing the US military to stay beyond year's end, officials said.
The change sought by the influential United Iraqi Alliance would harden the withdrawal date for US troops. A draft bilateral agreement had required American forces to leave by December 2011, but allowed for an extension by mutual agreement.
The Shiite bloc, which includes Mr Maliki's Dawa party, also insists that Iraqi officials have a bigger role in determining whether US soldiers accused of wrongdoing are subject to prosecution in Iraqi courts, said Sami al-Askeri, a political adviser to Mr Maliki. If the Iraqi Alliance's conditions are not met, "I cannot see that this agreement will see the light," said Mr Askeri, who is also a politician from Mr Maliki's party.
The United Iraqi Alliance includes politicians close to Shiite-dominated Iran. The concerns voiced by the Shiite politicians represent a significant stumbling block in what many US and Iraqi officials anticipate will be a contentious process that could take weeks - if it succeeds at all.
It was not immediately clear if the US side would accept the changes to the draft agreement.
If there is no accord or other legal cover for US forces by December 31, they must leave.
The Bush Administration has long resisted setting firm dates for the departure of US troops from Iraq, saying that the decision should be based on security conditions. US authorities ultimately accepted a compromise, which set the 2011 withdrawal date but provided for an extension if Iraq requested one.
The draft status of forces agreement was discussed on Sunday night by the Iraqi Political Council for National Security. In the meeting, Iraq's defence and interior ministers told colleagues that the security forces created since the fall of Saddam Hussein were still incapable of defending the country, according to a presidential spokesman, Nasir al-Ani.
The ministers said Iraq's security forces "still have no air cover and don't have the ability to suppress any attacks" from foreign countries, Mr Ani told Iraq's al-Sharqiya television.
Mahmoud Othman, a politician from the Kurdish bloc, the second-biggest in parliament, said the escalation in demands by the Shiite alliance could represent politicians' desire to position themselves before provincial elections expected in the next few months. Many Iraqis resent the American presence, seeing it as a violation of national sovereignty.
Another factor was that politicians "are trying to buy time. Some are thinking to delay until the next administration that emerges from the US presidential election, he said.