The much-delayed status-of-forces agreement (SOFA) between Iraq and the US may move forward, thanks to Nouri al-Maliki’s endorsement of the latest version.  Maliki calls it a “withdrawal agreement” that requires American troops to leave in 2011.  The new nomenclature apparently intends to garner wider support in the National Assembly:

For the first time, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki declared his support for a security agreement between the United States and Iraq in an executive council meeting last week, a close aide to the premier said Friday.

Sami al Askari said that Maliki plans to address the nation in coming days to ask for that Iraqis support the agreement, which Iraqi officials now call the “withdrawal agreement.”

The declaration is an about face for Maliki, who was maintained a tough line throughout the negotiations and in some cases publicly criticized early drafts of the agreement. Askari said the U.S. had agreed to two amendments the Iraqi government had sought to the agreement, and that the two negotiating teams would work through the night on Friday to compare the Arabic and English texts.

“We can’t get anymore,” Askari said. “In practice the Americans they can’t do anything alone according to this agreement . . . He feels now after all the amendments that it’s not a perfect agreement, but that he [Maliki] can now go to the people and say look this is far better to accept this than the other options.”

Maliki didn’t get the one concession he sought the most.  The Bush administration refused to allow Iraq to prosecute American soldiers for any crimes committed in Iraq.  Maliki had to know that the US would never budge on that point, but apparently feels comfortable enough with the gains he made using that as leverage. They did get the authority to inspect American cargo coming into Iraq, a particular sore point relating to Iraqi sovereignty.

The sudden agreement doesn’t leave much time for the notoriously slow National Assembly to approve it.  The current UN mandate runs out at the end of December, at which point the US lacks any legal justification to remain in Iraq.  Maliki doesn’t want to extend the UN mandate, as it will negate all of the points he has negotiated, including a pullback of US troops from major population centers next year.  The incoming Obama administration wouldn’t want an extension of the mandate either, as it would hamstring them from making any adjustments to the SOFA after taking office.

Can the Iraqi parliament get this approved in the next seven weeks?  I’d doubt it.