Negotiations over the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq are now focused on a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops, according to Reuters.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington...

"One of the two basic topics is either to have a memorandum of understanding for the departure of forces or a memorandum of understanding to set a timetable for the presence of the forces, so that we know (their presence) will end in a specific time."

Maliki also insisted that U.S. forces operate under rules established by the Iraqi government.

He said foreign forces would need Iraqi permission for many of their activities once the U.N. mandate ended.

"This means the phenomena of unilateral detention will be over, as well as unilateral operations and immunity," he said.

Maliki did not clarify who the immunity referred to.

Officials have said contractors working for the U.S. government would lose immunity from Iraqi law, but Washington is highly unlikely to let the same thing happen to U.S. solders.

Until now, Bush has adamantly opposed any restrictions on U.S. forces in Iraq.

Will Maliki force them to accept true Iraqi sovereignty and the end to U.S. military occupation? Bush's opening bargaining position is NO.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters: "With respect to timetables I would say the same thing I would say as respects to the security situation -- it is dependent on conditions on the ground."

But in recent months we've learned Maliki is a pretty shrewd and determined negotiator, and Bush has been forced to compromise on issues like sovereignty for contractors and leasing rather than owning our bases. So Bush may well have to accept some form of timetable or "benchmarks" to get a document Maliki is willing to sign.