The Iraqi Parliament was supposed to vote today on the U.S. Withdrawal Agreement, but Sunnis demanded final ratification through a national referendum. The final vote is expected tomorrow.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's ruling coalition appears to be assured of at least a slim majority in the 275-seat legislature. But the prime minister seeks a bigger win that transcends factionalism and sectarian divisions and reinforces the legitimacy of the pact, which could lead to full Iraqi sovereignty and close the bloody chapter that began with the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Shiite Lawmaker Ridha Jawad Taqi said the government's Shiite and Kurdish blocs, which account for about 140 seats, or a slight majority in parliament, were willing to hold a national referendum on the deal in 2009.

That is a concession to many Sunni Arab legislators, who have said they would support the security pact if it was put to a nationwide vote next year.

If that happens, the deal could be approved by parliament, but torpedoed by a "no" vote in the referendum.

A referendum would give the Iraqi people a chance to evaluate "whether their interests have been achieved," said Alaa Makki, a member of parliament's biggest Sunni Arab bloc, the 44-seat Iraqi Accordance Front.

So if Parliament approves the agreement tomorrow it will go into effect on January 1, and by June 1 U.S. troops will have to leave Iraqi cities and move to U.S. bases in preparation for complete departure by 12/31/11.

But if the Iraqi people reject the agreement when they get to vote sometime in 2009, U.S. troops would have to leave Iraq immediately.

If the polls in Iraq are reliable, President-elect Obama needs to tell SecDef Gates to start planning to bring our troops home asap.