Iraq's prime minister has gone on national television to defend a security pact with the United States that keeps US forces in Iraq through 2011.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged on Tuesday that he had concerns about the agreement, but said it was a step toward the attainment of Iraqi sovereignty once the last US soldier leaves.
"I say to you with complete honesty that we have reservations about the agreement. But we at the same time see it as a solid prelude to the restoration of Iraq's full sovereignty in three years' time," al-Maliki said in a televised speech the day before parliament was to hold a second reading of the agreement.
"I assure you that there are no secret clauses or annexes in the agreement, nor permanent military bases in Iraq," he said.
The Iraqi cabinet approved the pact - which would require all US troops to leave the country by 2011 - on Sunday and passed it on to parliament, which was to hold an up-or-down vote on the deal on November 24.
"I can also guarantee that there will be no permanent (US) bases in Iraq and that our country will not be used as a corridor or as a base to attack another state," Maliki said in remarks directed at Syria and Iran.
Both neighbours have criticised the agreement, which they say would legitimise the US "occupation".
Followers of the hardline anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have vowed to oppose any agreement with the United States with mass demonstrations, but Maliki insisted he had secured broad political support for the deal.
"As prime minister I insisted from the beginning of the negotiations, on the participation of constitutional institutions and political blocs," he said.
Maliki also said the withdrawal timetable was final, in what appeared to be a rebuke of remarks made by Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said on Monday the pullout should be "conditions-based".
"The accord stipulates the deadline for the withdrawal of all American forces from cities and towns is June 30, 2009. It cannot be extended," Maliki said.
"The deadline for the withdrawal from all the land, sea, and air of Iraq is the end of December 2011. It is a final date and it cannot be extended," he said, adding that all withdrawals until then would be "permanent".
Should parliament approve the deal it would then need to be ratified by Iraq's presidential council before it would be signed by the two countries.
The pact will govern the status of some 150,000 US soldiers stationed in the country after their current UN mandate expires on December 31.
