[Vision2020] Iraq Wants Short-Term Agreement on U.S. Troops

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Army Times -

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Iraq wants short-term agreement on U.S. troops

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 7, 2008 18:58:18 EDT
   
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Iraq has proposed a short-term 
memorandum of understanding with the United States rather than trying to 
hammer through a formal agreement on the presence of U.S. forces, the 
country’s prime minister said Monday.

The Iraqi government proposed the memorandum after widespread Iraqi 
opposition to United States demands emerged during talks on a more formal 
Status of Forces Agreement. Some type of agreement is needed to keep U.S. 
troops in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at year’s end.

The proposed memorandum includes a formula for the withdrawal of U.S. 
troops from Iraq, al-Maliki told several Arab ambassadors to the United 
Arab Emirates during a meeting Monday.

“The goal is to end the presence” of foreign troops, said al-Maliki.

The prime minister provided no details on the formula. But his national 
security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, told The Associated Press on Sunday 
that the government was proposing a timetable that would be conditioned on 
the ability of Iraqi forces to provide security.

President Bush opposes a timetable for troop withdrawal.

By transitioning to a less formal memorandum and including a withdrawal 
formula, al-Maliki may have an easier time getting support from Iraqi 
lawmakers. They had been concerned about the original negotiation’s impact 
on Iraqi sovereignty.

Al-Maliki has promised in the past to submit a formal agreement with the 
U.S. to parliament for approval. But the government indicated Monday it 
may not do so with the memorandum.

“It is up to the Cabinet whether to approve it or sign on it, without 
going back to the parliament,” Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh 
told the AP.

Less than three weeks ago, al-Maliki said negotiations with the U.S. over 
the agreement were deadlocked. But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari 
said after returning from high-level meetings in Washington that the U.S. 
had made several serious concessions and a deal was “almost finalized.”

At the same time, however, Zebari said that if the two sides could not 
agree, Iraq would either have to seek an extension of the U.N. mandate or 
pursue the type of memorandum of understanding that al-Maliki announced 
Monday.

The contentious issues are U.S. authority to carry out military operations 
in Iraq and arrest the country’s citizens, plus legal immunity for private 
contractors and control of Iraqi air space.

Zebari said the U.S. had agreed to drop immunity for private contractors 
and give up control of Iraqi air space if the Iraqis guaranteed they could 
protect the country’s skies with their limited air force.

But those concessions, which were never confirmed by the U.S., were 
apparently not enough to cement a formal agreement, leading Iraq to pursue 
the memorandum announced Monday.

The Iraqi government’s decision to push the U.S. for a less formal 
agreement comes at a time when the government feels increasingly confident 
about its authority and improved stability in the country.

Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in four years. The change 
has been driven by the 2007 buildup of American forces, the Sunni tribal 
revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and al-Maliki’s crackdowns against Shiite 
militias and Sunni extremists, among other factors.

Despite the gains, frequent attacks continue.

On Monday, a roadside bomb near a dress shop in Baqubah killed one woman 
and injured 14 other people, police said. Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of 
Baghdad, and the surrounding Diyala province remain one of the country’s 
most violent regions.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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