The Iraqi parliament on Thursday approved a security pact with the United States that requires all U.S. forces to leave Iraq within three years and stipulates the conditions they will operate under until they leave.

Iraq’s approval of the pact, which consists of a Status of Forces Agreement (sofa) and a long-term strategic framework agreement, establishes for the first time a specific timetable for America’s exit from Iraq. Of course, that timetable may yet be brought forward should President-elect Barack Obama fulfill his pledge to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

“This is a historic day for the great Iraqi people,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a 10-minute address on national television. “We have achieved one of its most important achievements in approving the agreement on the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq and restoring the sovereignty it lost two decades ago.”

The pact now has to be ratified by the Presidential Council, which is expected to be a simple formality.

While the U.S. says it welcomes the approval of the sofa—without which it would have had no mandate to continue in Iraq after the end of this year—it has come with considerable strings attached.

The terms of the sofa were the sticking point that dragged out the process of agreement on the pact for about a year. In the end, it seems, U.S. concessions were sufficient for the Shiite-dominated Iraqi parliament (and its Shiite ally Iran) to concede. Those terms include: The U.S. cannot use Iraqi territory as a launch pad for any attacks on neighboring countries; Iraqi authorities have extensive control over the operations of U.S. forces; U.S. forces must withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and from Iraq by Jan. 1, 2012; judicial immunity for foreign contractors and U.S. soldiers in Iraq is eliminated; and the Iraqis will have the authority to inspect incoming and outgoing U.S. cargo.

In addition, considerable deal-making went on among the various Iraqi blocs during the sometimes heated deliberations over the past two weeks. One of those deals was the Shiite bloc’s agreement to the Sunni demand that the pact be put to the people in a referendum by July 30 next year. This means the deal could yet be rejected if, for example, as Associated Press points out, “anti-U.S. anger builds and demands for an immediate withdrawal grow.”

Iraq is, in effect, as Joel Hilliker wrote in his column last week, “dictating terms to America.” And behind Iraq is the influence of Iran, which is the power that stands to benefit most from the terms of the security pact. As Mr. Hilliker wrote, “Not only did the U.S. give in on Iran’s key demand—that the U.S. not be allowed to attack other countries from Iraqi soil—it has agreed to an unconditional timetable for a pullout that will surely open the door for Iran to increase its influence in Iraq even more.”

Watch for Iran to increasingly fill the void that will be left as the U.S. draws down in Iraq. Read “Is Iraq About to Fall to Iran?” for what the Trumpet wrote on this subject back in 2003.