| Al Jazeera, April 27, 2009 |
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Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, has denounced a US raid on targets near Baghdad as “a crime”, saying that it violated the security pact between the two countries. Two people were killed in the raid on a house in Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad on Sunday, according to Iraqi officials said, but the US disputed the details of the attack. The US military said that just one person, a women, was killed during the operation, which it said targeted the financier of Shia fighters funded and armed by Iran. The military said that six suspected fighters were arrested, but Iraqi officials said the men were later released. Mohammed al-Askari, the defence ministry spokesman, said “the committee has managed to get the six people detained by the Americans released”. Security row Al-Maliki has demanded that US forces hand over those responsible for the attack to the courts, an Iraqi official said.
Under the US-Iraqi security pact, which came into force this year, the 137,000 US troops in Iraq are no longer allowed to conduct military operations without Iraqi approval and co-ordination.It also says that US soldiers are immune to prosecution in Iraqi courts unless they are suspected of grave crimes committed while off duty outside their bases. The US military said that the operation was undertaken within the framework of the security pact and that “the operation was fully co-ordinated and approved by the Iraqi government”. The row marks the most serious test of the security pact so far. But efforts were quickly launched in an attempt to tone down the dispute and Colonel Richard Francey, from the US military, offered condolences to the family of the woman killed. ‘Horrific incident’ Baghdad’s condemnation of the raid came after hundreds of Iraqis protested in Kut against the US operation. Hundreds of protesters shouted angry slogans as they carried two coffins through the streets of Kut. “We condemn this horrific incident. It violates the agreements between US forces and the Iraqi government,” Latif al-Tarfa, governor of Wasit province, said. “Innocent people were killed and the city is now very tense.” Aziz al-Amara, an Iraqi police officer, who commands a rapid reaction force in Kut, said all of those targeted in the raid were innocent and that one of those arrested was a police captain. “They were poor people. They do not cause any political or security problems,” he said. Officials arrested The Iraqi defence ministry ordered the arrest of two high-ranking Iraqi officers for their alleged roles in allowing US forces to operate in Kut. It also sent a committee to Kut to investigate. The raid came just months before US combat troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities. Barack Obama, the US president, has ordered all US combat operations in Iraq to cease in August 2010 ahead of the full withdrawal by the end of 2011. Kut, and the surrounding Wasit province, were the last area south of Baghdad to be handed over to Iraqi forces last October. |
Posts Tagged ‘security pact’
Iraq: US raid broke security pact
April 27, 2009
Chalabi: U.S. wants secret bases in Iraq
September 20, 2008Middle East Times, September 19, 2008
BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (UPI) — Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalabi told Iranian state-owned media Friday the United States is seeking to establish secret military bases in Iraq.
In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, Chalabi, once a Washington favorite, said U.S. officials are trying to inject agreements for secret bases in Iraq as part of the long-term security contract slated to govern U.S.-Iraqi relations when the U.N. mandate there expires at the end of this year.
“Within the framework of the security pact, the United States does not wish to merely have open military bases (in Iraq), rather secret military bases (there),” he said.
He said negotiations on the deal were ongoing following the acceptance of a formal draft agreement in August but noted there were still contentious issues surrounding legal authority over U.S. military forces and the use of Iraq as a staging ground for the broader counter-terrorism effort.
Chalabi, who also served as the oil minister in 2005, said heightened diplomatic tensions between the United States and Russia made securing the deal a top priority for U.S. officials.
“If a security deal is not signed … by Dec. 31, regarding the recent U.S.-Russia row over Georgia and the Iraqi government’s decision not to extend the U.S. forces’ presence in Iraq for another year, the U.S. presence in Iraq will come across with difficulty in terms of the law,” he said.
A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a convoy carrying Chalabi in early September, killing six of his bodyguards.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Iraq toughens stance on U.S. troop withdrawal
July 10, 2008BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) — Iraq’s stance in negotiations with the U.S. over the country’s security has been getting tougher, a trend obviously seen when a Iraqi security officer demanded a definite deadline of U.S. troops’ withdrawal.
Iraq will reject any security pact with the United States unless a specific date for withdrawal of U.S.-led troops is set, Iraqi national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said in Najaf on Tuesday.
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Iraq’s President Nuri al-Maliki speaks during a visit to Kerbala, 80 km southwest of Baghdad, June 20, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) |
“Our stance in the negotiations with the Americans will be strong. We will not sign any memorandum of understanding without specifying a date for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,” al-Rubaie told reporters in the Shi’ite holy city.
As security conditions in Iraq improve, the Iraqi government’s stance in negotiations with the U.S. have become tougher. al-Rubaie’s remarks were the toughest since the beginning of negotiations on a security pact between the two countries in March, analysts say.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki publicly announced Monday that his country was seeking a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“The current trend is to reach either a memorandum of understanding for the departure of the troops, or a memorandum of understanding for setting a timetable for their withdrawal,” al-Maliki said during a meeting with a group of Arab ambassadors in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates,
Baghdad and Washington are currently holding talks aimed at reaching a deal on continued U.S. military presence in Iraq after a UN mandate expires in December.
Peace and Justice Post 
Washington warns Iraq to accept security deal
October 23, 2008By ROBERT BURNS | Associated Press, Oct 22, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration on Wednesday warned of “real consequences” for Iraq if it rejects a newly negotiated security pact. Without a deal, the United States could be forced to end its military operations.
The White House said Iraqi security forces are incapable of keeping the peace without U.S. troops, raising the specter of reversals in recent security and political gains if the proposed security deal is not approved by the time the current legal basis for U.S. military operations expires Dec. 31.
“There will be no legal basis for us to continue operating there without that,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “And the Iraqis know that. And so, we’re confident that they’ll be able to recognize this. And if they don’t, there will be real consequences, if Americans aren’t able to operate there.”
At the Pentagon, press secretary Geoff Morrell said the U.S. fallback position is to extend the U.N. Security Council mandate authorizing U.S.-led coalition operations in Iraq, but he emphasized that the Bush administration’s preference is to complete a bilateral U.S.-Iraqi agreement.
“Our focus is entirely on trying to get this deal done,” Morrell said.
Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not had direct contacts with Iraqi officials since Baghdad announced earlier this week that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki determined that unspecified changes to the draft accord are required. The spokesman said it was not clear what changes the Iraqis are demanding.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the draft agreement “both protects our troops and the Iraqi sovereignty” and would stand as it was negotiated.
“It is a good agreement,” Rice told reporters traveling with her Wednesday to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she was to meet her Mexican counterpart, Patricia Espinosa.
Rice would not say whether she opposes the Iraqi Cabinet petition to reopen negotiations.
“I understand the Iraqis themselves recognize they are not ready to operate without the coalition forces yet,” Rice said.
At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood said time was running short.
“It’s time for the Iraqis to step up to the plate and take a decision,” Wood said. He insisted that the administration had yet to hear anything official from the Iraqi government on its position or its suggestions for possible amendments.
The U.S. has 155,000 troops in Iraq. In addition to conducting combat operations against a weakened insurgency and hunting down al-Qaida fighters, the U.S. military is training Iraqi security forces, assisting in the resettlement of displaced persons, coordinating efforts to restore and improve basic services like water and sewage, and providing personal security for senior Iraqi government officials.
Iraqi government on Wednesday decried what it called the “not welcomed” statements from Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who cautioned the Iraqis of unwelcome consequences in the event that the security pact is not signed by the end of the year.
Mullen, who was traveling in Europe, told reporters on Tuesday that time was running out for the Iraqis to sign the deal and that he was concerned the Iraqis may not fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation.
“These statements are not welcomed in Iraq,” Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement. “All Iraqis realize the volume of their responsibilities and they appreciate the importance of signing the pact or not in the way they deem it proper.”
Al-Dabbagh added: “A compulsory method must not be imposed on their choice and it is improper to address Iraqis in such manner.”
Morrell said the Iraqis should not take Mullen’s comments as an attempt to force anything on them.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Morrell said. “We are not trying to pressure the Iraqis or force the Iraqis into signing anything they don’t wish to sign.”
In subsequent remarks Wednesday, Mullen said he believes the Iraqis are not ready to provide their own defense, according to a Pentagon account of comments to reporters traveling with him.
Mullen also made clear in those remarks that if there is no U.S.-Iraqi deal and the U.N. mandate runs out on Dec. 31 without being extended by the Security Council, then all U.S. military operations would have to cease. Mullen and other senior U.S. military officials have said repeatedly that the security situation in Iraq is too fragile to justify a full U.S. withdrawal anytime soon.
The proposed security pact calls for all U.S. combat forces to be removed from Iraqi cities by June 2009 and for all forces to leave the country by the end of 2011, unless both sides agree to an extension.
In a satellite video-teleconference from Baghdad, an Army commander told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that his understanding is that by June 2009 U.S. troops would not be based inside cities but would be allowed to operate as trainers and advisers attached to Iraqi military units.
“We will have embedded teams,” Col. William Hickman, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, said. “And those teams will remain with Iraqi army and the Iraqi police in execution of our mission. So that is how we’re seeing our situation here — to continue to focus on the training of the Iraqi security forces so that they are prepared as we go into spring and summer of next year.”
Hickman’s brigade operates in western Baghdad.
Morrell announced that on Thursday the Iraqis would regain security responsibilities for Babil province, making it the 12th of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be restored to Iraqi control.
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Matthew Lee, Terence Hunt and Nestor Ikeda contributed to this story.
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Tags:Bush administration, Iraq, Pentagon, security forces, security pact, United States
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