Iraq Wants Withdrawal Timetable In U.S. Pact

At the same time, Bush has often said he would go along with the Iraqi government's wishes. "It's their government's choice," Bush said in May 2007. "If they were to say, 'Leave,' we would leave."

U.S. officials say the Iraqi army and police have made great strides in recent months. But the forces remain heavily dependent on the U.S. military, which has been providing training, air support and millions of dollars' worth of weapons, vehicles and aircraft.

Shiite parliament member Ali al-Adeeb, a close ally of Maliki, said the Iraqi government is proposing that the withdrawal of U.S. troops be linked to the handover of security responsibility for the provinces, the Associated Press reported.

Iraq has assumed primary responsibility for security in nine of Iraq's 18 provinces, but U.S. troops continue to operate freely throughout the country.

Iraq is proposing that U.S. troops withdraw from all Iraqi cities once the United States has handed over responsibility for security in all provinces, Adeeb told the AP.

Also on Tuesday, a U.S. soldier was killed about 9:30 a.m. west of Baghdad when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle, the military said in a statement.

In northeastern Baghdad, a U.S. soldier and an interpreter were wounded when an explosive device landed in a small outpost shared by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the military said Tuesday that four contractors were killed and eight were wounded Monday afternoon south of the northern city of Mosul when a roadside bomb struck their convoy. An Iraqi security official said the contractors were Iraqis working for the U.S. government.

Eggen reported from Washington. Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson in Washington and special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf and Zaid Sabah in Baghdad contributed to this report.