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Iraqi Cabinet OKs Pact

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The Washington Post

Published: November 17, 2008

BAGHDAD - After months of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, the Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday approved a bilateral agreement allowing U.S. troops to remain in the country for three more years.

The accord still needs approval by Iraq's parliament, but the Cabinet vote indicated that most major Iraqi parties supported it. The Iraqi government spokesman portrayed the pact as closing the book on the occupation that began with the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.

"The total withdrawal will be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. This is not governed by circumstances on the ground," the spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told Iraqi reporters, pointedly rejecting the more conditional language that the U.S. government had earlier sought in the accord.

American officials have pointed out that there is nothing stopping the next Iraqi government from asking some U.S. troops to stay on. The Iraqi military is years away from being able to defend the country from external attack, according to both U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Still, there is no doubt that the accord, if passed by parliament, will sharply reduce the U.S. military's power in Iraq.

The U.S. government has lobbied hard for the status-of-forces agreement, which would replace a U.N. mandate authorizing the U.S. presence that expires Dec. 31. Without some legal umbrella, the 150,000 U.S. forces would have to end their operations in Iraq in a few weeks' time, military officials said.

The Iraqi spokesman noted his government could cancel the pact if its forces became capable of controlling security at an earlier point.

"That matches the vision of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama," Dabbagh said, referring to the Democrat's plan to withdraw American combat troops within 16 months.

RULES OF THE SECURITY AGREEMENT
•Requires the United States to get Iraqi consent before searching homes.

•Gives Iraqis authority over the international zone that houses the centers of U.S. power in Baghdad.

•Enables Iraqis to search U.S. cargo.

•Prohibits Americans from launching raids in other countries from Iraqi soil.

•Eliminates the judicial immunity that applies to foreign contractors and U.S. soldiers working in Iraq under the occupation's current mandate.

Source: McClatchy-Tribune

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