Iraqi leaders are divided over whether to settle with the Bush administration on how quickly U.S. troops will leave and how they will operate in the meantime, or bank on a better deal from incoming President Barack Obama.

Iraq wants more talks over a draft agreement authorizing U.S. operations, a spokesman for the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said. In remarks broadcast on state-run television on Saturday, Ali Al-Dabbagh said the latest U.S. version of the agreement requires ``meetings with the American side to reach a bilateral understanding.''
The Iraqi national security adviser, Mouafaq Al-Rubaie, has indicated a preference for Obama's 16-month pullout schedule rather than the three-year timeline in the draft negotiated with Bush administration officials.
Obama will also face a decision once he takes office on Jan. 20: whether to adhere to his campaign pledge of pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq within the 16 months he envisions or to deviate from that timetable as he seeks to build up forces in Afghanistan.
The Iraqis and Obama have ``got to make some tough choices,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at Washington's Brookings Institution.
At stake immediately is whether the U.S. and Iraq will conclude an agreement authorizing an American military presence beyond Dec. 31, when the current United Nations mandate expires. If not, and the UN resolution isn't extended, the 152,000 U.S. troops will withdraw to bases and cease operations, American officials said.
``We have to have a legal framework to stay here,'' top U.S. commander General Raymond Odierno told reporters in the Iraqi city of Samarra this week.
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The draft agreement calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June and the entire country by the end of 2011, subject to extension by mutual consent. It gives the U.S. primary legal jurisdiction over American personnel accused of committing crimes while on-base or on a mission. Iraq would have jurisdiction in cases of serious crimes committed off-base or off-duty.
Iraqi leaders want more say in determining which category a violation falls into, a more definite withdrawal timetable, the right to inspect U.S. military shipments and a requirement that commanders seek warrants for house-to-house searches.
U.S. officials gave the Iraqis what White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called a ``final text'' of the agreement this week that they said acceded to some Iraqi demands, and indicated the negotiations were closed.
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Looming over these maneuvers is the question of whether Iraqi leaders want to deal with departing President George W. Bush or Obama.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the Al-Jazeera television network his government intended to conclude an accord with ``the current administration.''
Al-Rubaie, the national security adviser, told Al-Arabiya, another Arabic-language channel, that it might be better to wait for the new president. ``We think 16 months is good,'' he said, referring to Obama's withdrawal timetable.
While the Iraqis may be inclined to delay in hopes of getting a better deal from Obama, they would be making a mistake by doing so, said U.S. analysts O'Hanlon and Anthony Cordesman.
``One of the dangers for the Iraqis is that a President Obama may see this pressure as a way for him to make more rapid reductions and do quicker trade-offs to boost the force in Afghanistan,'' said Cordesman, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
As the security situation has improved and January parliamentary elections approach, Iraqi politicians are prodding U.S. forces to leave on an accelerated timetable.
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``But this is nowhere near a stable country,'' O'Hanlon said. ``The Iraqis may come to recognize that a U.S. departure that is quite fast, and set in Washington based on American preferences instead of Iraqi realities, is not as desirable as they believed.''
Obama has made clear that ``he is not going to anchor our national-security policy in Iraq,'' said senior foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes in an interview last week. Obama has called for sending at least 7,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are struggling to suppress resurgent Taliban fighters.
If the lack of a legal mandate leads to a U.S. pullback to its bases, O'Hanlon said, ``the last thing'' Obama will do ``is let a bunch of American troops sit around in their bases while Iraqis renegotiate the agreement. He will pull them home and start sending more troops to Afghanistan.''
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Iraqi politicians are being pulled in two directions, Cordesman said. The forthcoming elections encourage them to stand up to the Americans, while the possibility of renewed pressure from Sunni insurgents or Shiite militias makes them more malleable.
Obama has also sent contradictory signals. While campaigning on his plan to pull combat troops out within 16 months, he said after visiting Iraq in July that the pace might have to be slowed to ensure the safety of U.S. soldiers. He promised to consult with American commanders before making any decisions.
Those commanders have said an overly rapid U.S. pullout might jeopardize security gains. Odierno suggested in Samarra that the U.S. must remain in Iraq in force for at least 18 months before the Iraqi army can fully take over security.
Obama promised Iraqi officials during his visit that his timetable wasn't rigid and that he would consult with both Iraqis and U.S. field commanders before making any decisions, Zebari said Nov. 6. (Source: Bloomberg)