Bush and patience

Journalist hurls shoes at 'dog' George W. Bush in Iraq | News.com.au Top stories | News.com.au

Mr Bush said: "Thanks for apologising on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me. If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw."

Playing down the incident, the president later said: "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

The White House said Mr Bush ducked to avoid the first shoe, while the second narrowly missed the president.

American troop withdrawal

Before the shoes were thrown, Mr Bush and Mr Maliki signed a security accord which calls for American troops to withdraw into their bases by June 30, 2010 and to leave Iraq altogether by by the end of 2011.

The agreement had been the cause of fierce debate in the Iraqi parliament and is seen by some as the Iraqi's pushing the Americans out. The pact will govern the presence of 146,000 US troops stationed in more than 400 bases when their UN mandate expires at the end of the year, giving the Iraqi government veto power over virtually all of their operations.

The two leaders, in a symbolic ceremony, added their names to the accord which was officially signed on November 17 by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and US ambassador Ryan Crocker.

The signing was held at Mr Maliki's private office in the highly-fortified Green Zone of central Baghdad that houses the Iraqi Government and US and British embassies.

Despite agreeing to withdraw American troops, Mr Bush said there was "still more work to be done" in Iraq. "The war is not over, but with the conclusion of these agreements... it is decisively on its way to being won,'' the President said.

Mr Bush's trip comes five weeks before he hands over the delicate task of overseeing the US withdrawal from Iraq to his successor Barack Obama. "I'm so grateful that I've had a chance to come back to Iraq before my presidency ends,'' he said.

Before meeting with Mr Maliki, Mr Bush was driven in a motorcade for several minutes around Baghdad streets, the first time in four visits he has gone somewhere in Iraq other than a military base or the Green Zone.

Australian troops to go

Contingency plans are also being prepared to end Australia's military presence in Iraq within a fortnight unless a new legal accord can be hammered out by December 31.

A failure to conclude a status of forces agreement with Baghdad in the next few days would dictate the immediate departure of Australian defence personnel embedded with coalition forces inside Iraq, The Australian reports.

It would also force the redeployment of HMAS Parramatta away from the northern Arabian Gulf, where it helps guard Iraq's offshore oil terminals.

"At this stage, the balance of probability is that it (a new agreement) won't come off," a senior Australian Government official said last night of the delicate negotiations that were under way in Baghdad.