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Iraq's parliament delays vote on US troops pact: MP

Agence France-Presse | 11/26/2008 9:05 PM

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BAGHDAD - An MP from Iraq's largest parliamentary bloc said Wednesday that lawmakers had delayed a vote on a controversial US military pact but insisted it would happen by the end of the day.

"Most of the political blocs have agreed to vote for the agreement, and the discussion that has delayed the session several hours has nothing to do with the agreement," said Haidar al-Aabadi, from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA).

"The initial time for convening the session was 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), but it might be delayed a number of hours," he added. "But no bloc is discussing delaying the voting until tomorrow or any other day."

Lawmakers have been holding a flurry of negotiations over the past 24 hours in a bid to assemble a broad consensus on the agreement with support from Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds.

The landmark military pact -- already approved by Iraq's cabinet -- would require all US troops to withdraw from the country by the end of 2011 and would replace the troops' UN mandate, which expires on December 31.