Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Iraqi negotiators produced a draft agreement on how long U.S. troops will stay in Iraq and the scope of their mission after 2008, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said, adding that a process leading to parliamentary consideration will begin tomorrow.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a briefing with Zebari in the Iraqi capital, said today the plan contains ``aspirational timetables'' for a pullout. She didn't offer details. While Rice declined to answer a question on the issue of immunity of American forces under the agreement, she said the U.S. would respect Iraq's sovereignty.

``We are very close to finalizing this very important agreement,'' Zebari said. All issues have been addressed in the draft, which will be presented to Iraq's executive council before lawmakers take it up for approval, he said.

Under the proposed agreement, U.S. forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns to nearby bases by next summer, and American combat forces would aim to leave the country by 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Humood.

The U.S. aims to complete the status of forces agreement before a United Nations mandate expires at the end of this year. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed July 18 on what the White House called a ``general time horizon'' for the reduction of U.S. combat forces.

Not Complete

A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, told reporters in Texas that discussions with Iraq on the military status accord aren't complete. He wouldn't say when the deal would be wrapped up.

Zebari said the agreement addresses the ``temporary presence'' of U.S. forces and their mission. He reiterated that Iraq would not be used as a base from which to attack any other country.

The agreement has potential ramifications for the U.S. presidential election. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, has called for the U.S. to set a schedule for withdrawal from Iraq; his Republican rival, John McCain, opposes a timetable and says U.S. forces must remain for as long as necessary to achieve security.

Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said both Obama and McCain may derive some benefit from the agreement.

McCain, Surge

``It helps McCain because he can say, `This is happening due to the success of the surge that I backed and Obama opposed,''' Sabato said, referring to the U.S. troop buildup ordered by Bush last year.

At the same time, a troop agreement may well reduce the saliency of Iraq as a campaign issue, and that would work to Obama's advantage, he said.

``If Iraq is not at the top of the agenda, something else will be, and it'll be the economy,'' Sabato said. ``Who benefits from that? There's absolutely no way John McCain can win on the economy.''

Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign-policy analyst at Washington's Brookings Institution, said the Bush administration will want to keep the agreement's redeployment goals as loose as possible to give the U.S. maximum flexibility in case violence worsens.

He said Iraqi officials want the agreement to include withdrawal objectives as an affirmation of their country's sovereignty. They also understand the need for flexibility in the face of an uncertain security situation, he said.

Voter Views

After the economy, U.S. voters say the most important issue for presidential candidates Obama and is the war in Iraq, with 31 percent picking that issue as their top priority, according to an Aug. 15-18 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll.

As U.S. casualties in Iraq have declined this year, voters are increasingly seeing McCain as better able to succeed in the Iraq conflict. By a margin of 43 percent to 36 percent, they say McCain, a senator from Arizona, is better suited than Obama, a senator from Illinois, at achieving success in the war, according to the poll.

Two days after al-Maliki agreed with Bush in July on a pullout timeframe, the Iraqi leader told a visiting Obama that he hopes U.S. troops will depart by 2010, while not explicitly expressing support for Obama's proposed 16-month timetable. Al- Maliki has said Iraq can take care of its own security with the country's current police and armed forces.

The U.S. has cut its presence to around 146,000 troops in Iraq from a peak of more than 160,000 late last year during the surge.

Brigades Leave

The Pentagon said in July that it had completed removing all five army brigade combat teams sent to Iraq as part of the military buildup to quell sectarian violence and fight al-Qaeda.

To reach the preliminary agreement with Iraq, the Bush administration dropped its position that U.S. contractors maintain their immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, the Journal reported. Joint U.S.-Iraqi committees will deal with issues of immunity for U.S. military personnel, the newspaper reported, citing Humood.

The contractor issue has resonated in Iraq because of accusations that Blackwater Worldwide, a Moyock, North Carolina- based security company hired to protect U.S. diplomats, shot dead innocent Iraqi civilians while guarding convoys. Blackwater has said its guards acted in self-defense in the September incident.

While Iraqi lawmakers will review the proposed agreement, the Bush administration has rejected contentions by members of Congress in Washington that they also should have a say on the terms.

Johndroe said the agreement wouldn't require ``specific congressional approval'' because it's not a treaty. Some Democratic lawmakers say they want a congressional review to understand what obligations Bush may be imposing on his successor.

To contact the reporters on this story: Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net; Viola Gienger in Baghdad through the Washington newsroom at +1- vgienger@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 21, 2008 16:03 EDT