Iraq Troop Withdrawal

"U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal of combat troops from the country," senior American officials told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "The draft agreement sets 2011 as the goal date by which U.S. combat troops will leave Iraq, according to Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Humood and other people familiar with the matter," the Journal says. "In the meantime, American troops will be leaving cities, towns and other population centers by the summer of 2009, living in bases outside of those areas, according to the draft." An anonymous Iraqi official told the AP that under the agreement, all U.S. troops would leave Iraqi cities by June 30 and be out of the country by the end of 2011. The final draft was finished last week but the Iraqi Cabinet has not signed off and many of its members have signaled doubts. The official says a compromise was reached on the contentious issue of immunity for American troops but did not give details.