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November 6th,
2008 - Iraqis Seek More ‘Withdrawal’ Talks; U.S. Says They’re Over |
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Iraqis Seek More ‘Withdrawal’
Talks; U.S. Says They’re Over By Leila Fadel, Nancy A. Youssef & Warren P. Strobel McClatchy Newspapers November 6, 2008 The United States delivered
Thursday what it said was the final text of the controversial accord on the
stationing of U.S. forces in Iraq, but Iraq said more talks are needed before
the government can accept it. "We have gotten back to
the Iraqi government with a final text. Through this step, we have concluded
the process on the U.S. side," said Susan Ziadeh, the U.S. Embassy
spokeswoman in Baghdad. "Iraq will now need to take it forward through
their own process." The accord, which calls for
complete withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011, has been the subject
of tense negotiations for the past seven months. According to State
Department officials, the United States yielded to several important Iraqi
demands, including Baghdad's proposal to inspect mail and cargo for U.S.
forces in Iraq. One official said he did not know the details of how those
inspections would be carried out, adding, "I don't think it's going to
be overly intrusive." He and other officials spoke
on condition of anonymity, because the details of the American response were
not being made public. President Bush also accepted
Iraq's request for firmer language in its call for U.S. troops to withdraw by
the end of 2011, two defense officials said, although they did not know the
details of the wording. While the U.S. government
signaled that it will not engage in further negotiations over the pact, which
has been repeatedly delayed, the government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh,
indicated that Iraq expects further discussions with the United States before
the process is completed. "These amendments need
meetings with the American side to reach the bilateral understanding, and the
environment is positive," Dabbagh said in a statement on a
government-funded television channel. "The Iraqi side needs time to give
the main blocs to have their opinions, suggestions and notes on the
amendments suggested by the American side." Many Iraqi officials are now
calling the status-of-forces accord, or SOFA, "the withdrawal
agreement," possibly as a way of marketing it to a wary public. The accord is controversial
in Washington as well. The White House has pushed aggressively to reach the
deal, but some Pentagon officials expressed concern that the concessions will
set a precedent for current and future status-of-forces agreements with other
countries. The United States is not believed to have agreed to another nation
monitoring mail in status agreements with more than 80 other countries, for
example. Earlier this week, a senior
Pentagon official who requested anonymity to speak candidly said he found it
"hard to believe we could find aspects there that are acceptable"
in the Iraqi proposal to search mail and cargo, adding: "What kind of
precedents would we be setting?" Administration officials
said Bush sees the agreement as key to shaping his legacy on Iraq. They said
Bush wanted to leave the presidency with a solidified relationship between
the United States and an indisputably sovereign Iraq. To the White House,
"SOFA is a sign of success," a second U.S. defense official, who
also requested anonymity to speak candidly, told McClatchy Newspapers. That said, the Bush
administration refused to accept one major Iraqi proposal, which would have
given Iraq expanded legal jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers alleged to commit
wrongdoing while in the country. U.S. officials have called that a
"non-starter." The agreement has to be
completed by the end of this year in order to replace a U.N. mandate that
provides the legal basis for the U.S. presence in Iraq. Iraqi officials were
tight-lipped Thursday about whether the changes were acceptable. The changes
first must be presented to the Cabinet. If the Cabinet agrees, the draft will
be presented to the Iraqi parliament. One of the main sticking points for
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has been the issue of
jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Shiite Muslim officials who
raised new demands when the accord was completed two weeks ago have been
accused of succumbing to Iranian influence not to sign the agreement. At the
time, Iraqi officials openly predicted that the government would be forced to
extend the United Nations mandate. In recent days, officials have sounded
more positive about the outcome. "The next step is for
the Cabinet to meet to look at the responses," Iraq's foreign minister,
Hoshyar Zebari, told McClatchy. "I hope it will be very soon." The latest draft calls for
U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009 and withdraw from Iraq
by 2011. It also lifts immunity for private U.S. contractors such as
Blackwater, whose security guards were accused of uncontrolled shooting while
on patrol duty, resulting in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. It also allows for a joint
U.S. and Iraqi committee to decide whether a U.S. soldier who's committed a
crime outside a U.S. base was off-duty and where he should be tried. Iraqi
officials wanted to make that decision on their own, but the Bush
administration has apparently rejected the demand. President-elect Barack Obama
has long advocated a U.S. withdrawal by the summer of 2010, a date that
Maliki originally demanded in the agreement. U.S. officials are pushing
to get the deal done before the end of the month. If it's not done by the
beginning of December, the government will have to begin the process to renew
the U.N. mandate, one U.S. official in Iraq said. The parliament must approve
the agreement when it's back in session next week and before it adjourns just
before the end of the month for the Hajj season, when millions of Muslims make
the holy pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. "Look, the government
of Iraq has debated this agreement thoroughly. ... They forwarded to us their
suggested amendments. We got back to them," State Department spokesman
Robert Wood said Thursday. "Now the negotiating process has come to an
end." Youssef and Strobel reported
from Washington. External link: http://www.kentucky.com/524/story/583275.html |