The plan conforms with the agreement negotiated by the George W. Bush administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq at the end of 2011. But negotiations have been taking place for months between Obama administration officials and Maliki’s government over how many U.S. troops should stay to continue training the nascent Iraqi national forces and monitor potential flashpoints, such as the boundary line between the Kurdish north and the rest of Iraq.
In the end, agreement on leaving some troops behind became a bridge too far, as Maliki was unable to persuade elements within his own coalition, and the United States was unwilling to make concessions that might have made the U.S. presence more palatable.