AP
Posted: 4:38 am
July 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - Baghdad and Washington have agreed to seek "a general time horizon" for deeper reductions in US combat troops in Iraq despite President Bush's once-inflexible opposition to talk about deadlines or timetables.
Iraqi officials, in a sign of growing confidence as violence decreases, have been seeking a withdrawal timeline, but the White House stressed that this would not be "an arbitrary date for withdrawal."
Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki addressed the timing issue as part of a broader security agreement to keep US troops in Iraq after a UN mandate expires on Dec. 31.
