BAGHDAD, Sept 4: The United States and Iraq hope to sign an agreement by next week to hand operational command of Iraq’s new army to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, overcoming wrangles on wording that had held up the accord.

Transferring security from US forces to the Iraqi army it is training is key to Washington’s plans to withdraw its 140,000 troops. A handover ceremony set for Saturday was delayed over disagreements between Baghdad and Washington over the wording of a document outlining their armies’ new relationship.

Denying there had ever been serious disagreement, Iraqi government’s spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: “Both sides have agreed on the main issues. I think the document is ready to be signed, probably by the end of this week or early next week.”

He said all remaining disagreements were ‘technicalities’.

The agreement, which the US military says is a key step toward Iraq taking responsibility for its security, lays out a gradual transfer of command from US forces to Iraqi units.

Under the timetable, every two weeks command of Iraqi units meeting certain criteria would be transferred until, by April 1, Iraqi troops in even the Sunni strongholds of Ramadi and Falluja would no longer be under US command, Mr Dabbagh said.

In parallel with this, control of security is being handed over province by province to Iraqi leaders, a process Mr Dabbagh said would largely be complete this year, requiring US forces then to receive approval for any movements across the country.

Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said Iraqi government lawyers had recommended that some articles of the document, drafted by US-led forces, be rewritten.

“It is a very important document because it deals with the whole handover of sovereignty,” Mr Askari told reporters.

US military spokesman Lt Col Barry Johnson called the disagreements ‘legalistic’.

With US soldiers in Iraq dying almost daily and the threat of a sectarian civil war looming, the military is anxious for Iraq’s new army to take over security.

Although mindful of his dependency on US military power, Mr Maliki is keen to be seen winning independence from Washington. A government source said the prime minister was pushing for guarantees that his forces would have freedom to make decisions independently. —Reuters