Iraq security talks not for hard withdrawal date

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Security talks between the United States and Iraq to permit U.S. forces to stay in Iraq beyond 2008 are not aimed at setting a hard deadline for withdrawal, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Negotiations and discussions are ongoing every day," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Japan, where U.S. President George W. Bush was attending the Group of Eight summit.

"It is important to understand that these are not talks on a hard date for a withdrawal," he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday raised the prospect of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of the talks for a new security agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for their presence that expires on December 31.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Hugh Lawson)