Report: U.S. and Iraq ‘close to a deal’ on October 2010 withdrawal timeline.

According to NBC News, the U.S. and Iraq are “close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010“:

The U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later, two Iraqi officials said Thursday.

A U.S. official in Washington acknowledged progress has been made on the timelines for a U.S. departure but offered no firm date. Another U.S. official strongly suggested the 2010 date may be too ambitious. A timetable is part of a security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Iraqi officials.

And senior U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington told NBC News that any agreement on withdrawing American forces would not likely include a “specific timetable” but be based on “security conditions at the time.”

On Tuesday, President Bush dismissed Iraqi Prime Minister Malaki’s recent endorsement of a withdrawal timeline saying, “I talk to him all the time, and that’s not what I heard.”