BAGHDAD, May 24: A top Iraqi leader said on Wednesday Tony Blair assured him in Baghdad this week that he and President George W. Bush would discuss a timetable for withdrawing troops when the British prime minister flies to Washington on Thursday.

Though Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashemi conceded that Blair did not agree to set a timetable, he told Reuters on Wednesday that the British leader agreed to consider a suggestion that would go some way to satisfying demands from guerillas that the occupiers set a firm date for leaving.

Though the two sides remain far apart, his comments and the latest bullish forecast from new Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki that his forces could run all Iraq within 18 months reinforce comments from Iraqi political sources that the new government hopes for rapid progress on peace with some rebel groups.

Blair repeated publicly in Baghdad on Monday that withdrawal is conditional on Iraqis being capable of taking over.

Hashemi said in an interview he thought Blair took seriously a proposal to set a timetable for completing training Iraqi forces and hence set an end to the occupation that would help persuade the ‘legitimate resistance’ movements to make peace.—Reuters