| Al Jazeera, August 21, 2008 | |||
The United States and Iraq have reportedly agreed to a draft deal to give US troops a legal basis to stay in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires in December. A senior US military official told The Associated Press that Washington had signed off on a draft agreement on reducing the American military presence in Iraq but that the deal was not final and was subject to approval by Iraqi leaders. However, the US state department told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that any report of an agreement was “premature”. The White House said that negotiations were still taking place. “Discussions are ongoing with the Iraqis to finalise a bilateral agreement,” Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said. “We are working to complete the agreement, but it is not final yet.” Contentious issues Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman said that with Iraqis facing provincial elections in the next few months, Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, will be facing pressure at home not to concede anything that will affect Iraqi sovereignty and to ensure a firm end date for US troop withdrawal is set. But Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, Iraq’s negotiator on the deal, told the Reuters news agency that the draft reportedly agreed to does not give a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq nor say if US troops will be subject to Iraqi law. At present around 144,000 US troops are stationed in Iraq, but Iraqi officials have said they would like any future deal to limit the US presence on Iraqi streets by mid-2009 and withdraw all troops by 2010 or 2011. The US government has said repeatedly that it will not seek permanent bases in Iraq. However, it has also resisted setting any timetable for the withdrawal of troops, although last month the US government began referring to “time horizons” and “aspirational goals” for such a withdrawal. Issues such as a timeline for withdrawing troops, their immunity from Iraqi law and the status of prisoners held by US forces have all caused repeated delays to a deal. In May this year scores of protests against any such deal erupted in the capital, Baghdad, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shia leader. Alongside the possible draft deal is a parallel agreement, known as a strategic framework agreement, which covers a range of political, economic and security relationships between the US and Iraq, that The Associated Press said had also been agreed to. |
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Iraq must rid itself of US troops, Iran says
October 10, 2008In a move that has raised concern among senior Iraqi and US officials, Tehran is using its influence over its smaller neighbour to scupper a Status of Forces Agreement, which must be reached by January 1.
After the deadline US and British troops would have no legal basis to remain and, in theory, would have to leave.
This week President Ahmadinejad told a senior official from Baghdad that Iraq had a duty to rid itself of US forces. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Majlis (parliament) gave warning of “unpleasant impacts” if Iraq went ahead with the deal.
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Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, the Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad, accused the US of trying to impose the agreement on Iraq and said that Washington was treating the country like a football.
Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, assured the Iranian Ambassador that the draft agreement included a clause that prevented foreign forces from using Iraq as a springboard for attacks against its neighbours.
He also reminded Iran that the decision was one for Iraq, its parliament and its people. “We expect that our decisions will be respected by all our neighbours,” Mr Zebari said.
Iran has been accused of arming, training and funding militant Shia Muslim groups in Iraq that were responsible for attacks on US and British forces.
Under the current United Nations Security Council resolution the 150,000 US and 4,000 British troops in Iraq have a mandate to remain until December 31.
After that a bilateral agreement must be in place. A draft document has been drawn up but there is still controversy over the wording about immunity for foreign troops serving in Iraq. The document also sets out a timeline in which all US forces could be removed by 2011.
Iraqi leaders are expected to meet next week to decide whether to push through the agreement, which must be ratified by the 275-member Iraqi parliament.
An agreement seemed likely earlier this year but Iraqi and US officials have now given warning that it is complicated by the Iraqi elections in January. While most Iraqi politicians privately accept the need for the Americans to remain, few are prepared to say so publicly, particularly before an election.
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