Iraq's three-member presidential council on Thursday approved a security pact with the United States setting out a three-year time frame for the full withdrawal of American troops, a spokesman said. Under the deal, US forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30 and the entire country by Jan. 1, 2012. Iraq also will gain strict oversight over the nearly 150,000 American troops now on the ground, representing a step toward full sovereignty for Iraq and a shift from the sense of frustration and humiliation that many Iraqis feel at the presence of American troops on their soil for so many years. The presidential council's decision marked the final step for the agreement, which will replace a UN mandate that expires on Dec. 31. The top two US officials in Iraq welcomed the ratification of the security pact and a parallel agreement covering cooperation in other areas, which will take effect on Jan. 1. The US Embassy and the military “will begin immediately to implement these two agreements with our Iraqi partners,” Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. Ray Odierno, the top US military commander in Iraq, said in a statement. They also promised to support Iraq's request to the UN Security Council to continue protection of Iraqi assets. “And we look forward, under these agreements, to the continued reduction in US forces and the normalization of bilateral relations as two sovereign and co
