Troop withdrawal timetable or not?

My survey of my favorite conservative blogs showed a series of posts concerning a apparently mistaken report that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki described a withdrawal timetable as one of the requirements for an agreement on the sustained presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

That type of story seems like the type that would automatically trigger skepticism from the American left. I would imagine that it would stimulate complaints such as "Bush pressured Maliki" or "Maliki is just a U.S. puppet"--and such a complaint would be plausible on its face if perhaps a bit exaggerated. Certainly the U.S. would be expected to diplomatically pressure Iraq to do the agreement our way--that is, the way of the Bush administration. Backtracking by al-Maliki under such pressure is not an outlandish expectation.

I don't think we have all the facts in yet, however. Here's how the news on the agreement is reported in Iraq (via Aswat Aliraq):

BAGHDAD, July 14 (VOI) – Iraq and the United States have agreed on most points of the joint cooperation agreement, which is scheduled to govern the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, a Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition leader said on Monday.

"Disagreement between the Iraqi and U.S. sides has largely subsided and they have agreed on many points," Hassan al-Saneed told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).
According to al-Saneed, the Iraqi vision of the security agreement with Washington can be divided into three aspects: cultural, economic and educational strategic cooperation, a timetabled withdrawal of the Multi-National Force (MNF), and military operations' go-ahead and coordination with the Iraqi government.

"Fighting terrorism will entail joint operations and coordination with the Iraqi government…," Saneed noted.

The "timetabled withdrawal" appears to agree with the supposedly misreported remarks from al-Maliki. On the other hand, there exists at least some doubt as to what conditions apply to the timetable. Is it based on dates or on situational measurables?

Time will tell and in the meantime I won't speculate as to which set of criteria will apply.