US, Iraq still aiming for troop deal this year: officials

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and Iraq remain committed to striking a deal on the status of US troops in Iraq before the end of the presidency of George W. Bush, officials from both countries said Sunday.

Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said the two sides were still seeking a pact by July 31 as Baghdad and Washington publicly had hoped, rejecting a Sunday report that the governments abandoned efforts to set a status-of-forces agreement into place before Bush left office on January 20.

The Washington Post reported that in place of a formal, long-term deal, the two governments were now working on a "bridge" document to allow basic US military operations to continue beyond the expiration of a UN mandate at the end of the year.

"I don't think this is true, to be quite honest," Rubaie told CNN.

"Over the ...