According to AP, U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials said.
The draft calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving diplomacy on the so-called Status of Forces Agreement.
The draft, reached after months of halting and often tense talks, contains elements that are expected to further aggravate an already difficult effort to get the Iraqi government and parliament on board, the officials said.
On Tuesday, in Baghdad, al-Maliki presented the tentative accord to President Jalal Talabani as well as to the country’s Sunni and Shiite vice presidents. They were the first in a series of sessions aimed at measuring political support for the agreement in Iraq.
An official statement said al-Maliki, Talabani and the two vice presidents _ Tarik al-Hashemi and Adil Abdul-Mahdi _ studied the draft “in depth and in detail,” but it gave no indication how the participants reacted.
Al-Maliki on Wednesday was to show the draft to the National Security Council, a consultative body that includes himself, Talabani, the vice presidents, leaders of political blocs and the parliament speaker. If they agree, he will submit the draft to his Cabinet for their approval by two-thirds majority. The final step will be parliament’s approval.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Times of London, the Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki called approval of the US-Iraqi security agreement necessary and said: The Iranian stances opposing this pact makes the situation complicated, but this opposition has no impact on our decision as Iraqis for acceptance or rejection of this agreement. This agreement is important for us and its approval before the end of deadline of UN resolution on December 31 which provides the legal aspect of the coalition forces is necessary. We want to approve this agreement so as we don’t need to refer it to the UN Security Council.