The outgoing US administration of President George W. Bush is in a fight against time to agree a "status of forces" agreement with Iraq to set out new rules for American troops in the country and lay out a timetable for drawing down their numbers.

According to recent drafts under negotiation, US combat troops would leave Iraqi cities by mid-2009 and exit Iraq altogether in 2011. The Bush administration insists that such a schedule should be "conditions-based" rather than setting dates in stone.