US agrees to changes in Iraq security pact

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US agrees to changes in Iraq security pact
Indo-Asian News Service
Monday, November 03, 2008, (Baghdad)

The US has agreed to three of the five amendments that Iraq made to a long-term security pact between the two countries, the semi-official Iraqi al-Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) aims at regulating the future of US troops in Iraq after the UN mandate expires at the end of 2008.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expects a reply from Washington soon on amendments to the pact that Iraq proposed last week.

The US still insists on immunity for US soldiers in Iraq. According to the US constitution, US citizens who commit crimes in other countries should be judged according to US law, an Iraqi source told al-Sabah.

After a pact is signed, the US would withdraw its troops from Iraq in 36 months, the source added.

British Ambassador in Iraq Christopher Prentice told the Kurdish newspaper al-Taakhi that Britain was keen on reaching an agreement with the Iraqi government since "very little time remains until the end of this year."

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv...208:47:00%20PM

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Iraq says U.S. agrees to pact changes

BAGHDAD, Nov. 3 (UPI) --

U.S. and Iraqi officials may meet soon to discuss Iraqi changes to the draft security deal governing U.S. troops in Iraq, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.

Press secretary Dana Perino's update about the status in force draft agreement differs from earlier reports from Iraq that the United States had agreed to most of the the changes. The Iraqi newspaper al-Sabah reported U.S. officials agreed to three of five changes Baghdad sought, but did not yield on changes to wording on immunity for troops accused of crimes in Iraq.

The U.S. negotiating team, led by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, is finalizing a response to the Iraqi changes and we expect to be talking with the Iraqis over the next week, Perino said.

We are focused on getting this agreement done, she said. I think the Iraqis recognize that it is in their interest, and it's certainly in America's national security interests, for us to finalize it.

Under the original draft, U.S. troops would withdraw from Iraq's main cities by the end of 2009 and from the country by 2011; the Iraqi change would call for U.S. troop withdrawal from the country within 36 months from the agreement's implementation.

Also under the original draft, Iraqis would have legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops who commit serious crimes while off duty.

The status of forces agreement is needed for the continued presence of 154,000 U.S. troops in Iraq after a United Nations mandate authorizing their activities expires Dec. 31.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.

http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/16652.html

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US May Accept Some Iraqi Changes to Forces Agreement
By Al Pessin
03 November 2008

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U.S. officials are denying reports that they are abandoning efforts to negotiate an agreement on the future of U.S. forces in Iraq, saying they will soon respond to Iraqi proposals for changes in the draft, and that some changes may be possible. VOA's Al Pessin reports from Washington.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said U.S. negotiators in Baghdad could be in touch with Iraqi officials this week with a response to their proposed changes, and she said some of the Iraqi requests might be accepted. "There might be some that we can support. There might be some that we would not be able to support. I will just let the negotiators work that out with them privately."

U.S. officials have not confirmed what the Iraqis are asking for, but news reports said a firm date for a full U.S. troop withdrawal is among the requests.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said U.S. officials are eager to hand over full responsibility for security to the Iraqis, but he said that can not be done on a firm timetable.

He said, "We share a common interest in turning over security functions and activities to the Iraqis as soon as they are ready to take those activities over. And our position with respect to timelines is well known, that we should have goals that are out there, that we work towards, but at the end of the day we have to be cognizant of the conditions on the ground, too."

At the White House, Dana Perino said it is in the interest of both countries to reach an agreement, and recent events demonstrate the need to be cautious about removing U.S. troops.

She said, "Just this past week even though they have made great strides, they have had some terrible violence up in the Mosul area. And we are trying to help their security forces beef up enough so that they are competent and confident enough to repel terrorists or insurgents who are trying to disrupt the political system there."

Another issue in dispute is reportedly the degree of immunity U.S. troops would have from prosecution in Iraqi courts. Perino said the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and his team will likely respond to the Iraqi proposals this week.

Both officials who spoke Monday denied news reports the United States is abandoning the negotiations with Iraq and turning its attention to getting a renewal of the U.N. authorization for U.S. troops to be in the country, which expires at the end of the year. The Pentagon has said U.S. troops would have to cease operations at midnight December 31st if there is no agreement or U.N. extension, but Perino said no one in Washington is contemplating such a thing.

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached the draft agreement last month after seven months of negotiations. Top U.S. officials have said some changes might be possible, but not major changes.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-11-03-voa46.cfm

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No US bases in northern Iraq without Baghdad nod: Talabani

11 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said that American troops can set up bases in northern Iraq's Kurdish region only if the Shiite-led government in Baghdad gives its approval.

"It is not possible for US troops to stay in Kurdistan without the approval of the central government," Talabani said in an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya late on Sunday.

"Kurdistan is part of Iraq, and all of the country's constitutional laws apply to it."

His remarks came after Massud Barzani, the president of the northern Kurdish administration of Iraq, said on a visit to Washington that the US military could have bases in the north if Washington and Baghdad failed to sign a controversial security deal.

The deal will decide the future presence of US troops in Iraq beyond 2008.

Local Iraqi newspaper "Khabat" quoted Barzani as saying that his regional government would "welcome" such a move.

"All the attempts are going right now to sign the pact, but if the pact is not signed and if US asked to keep their troops in Kurdistan, I think the parliament, the people and government of Kurdistan will welcome this warmly," he said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Barzani has strongly backed the controversial security deal, but its signing was delayed after the Iraqi cabinet decided to seek changes in the latest draft of the agreement.

Barzani and other Iraqi Kurdish leaders have been strong US allies since the 1991 Gulf War that pushed former dictator Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait and established a no-fly zone over the country's northern Kurdish region.

Anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's group also criticised Barzani over his comments.

"We reject the statement by Massud Barzani," sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi, spokesman for the group, told AFP.

"This position reminds us that Kurds want to separate... There is a constitution in this country and they have to respect it."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...QFrjbfasvXWpZw

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US should withdraw from Islamic states

03:30:02 È.Ù

Iranian people called on Monday for US unconditional withdrawal from all Islamic states referring to Washington as the "main war-monger and cause of insecurity worldwide."

Large groups of people staged demonstration in Tehran this morning marking this year's National Day Against Global Arrogance (November 4), an Iranian tradition since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

November 4 has great significance in Iranian history because of three decisive events:

1. Declaration of the day as the 'Students Day' in remembrance of several students martyred in 1978 while taking part in protest rally against the former Shah,

2. Sending to exile of the late Imam Khomeini in 1963 and

3. Take-over of the former US embassy in Tehran by university students followers of the Imam Khomeini in 1979.

Ralliers, including groups of school and university students, shouted slogans against the United States as they marched through Tehran's streets leading to the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, better known in Iranian history as the "Den of Spies."

The demonstrators read a six-point statement at the end of their demonstration calling for US unconditional withdrawal from all Muslim states.

Referring to the US as the main cause of insecurity in the world, the statement said the only way out of the present global crisis caused by US wrong policies "is to fight against oppressive and colonial policies of the world arrogance and Western powers led by the US."

It added that efforts made by Western powers, the US in particular, to halt progress of the Islamic states, specially Iran, was "resulted from the influence of Zionist lobbies on international organizations as well as the US and its allies pressures on international bodies."

The statement added that Iranian students would continue with their active presence at all political scenes and their support for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=260515&n=12

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Iraq cabinet draws conclusions on U.S. troop draft

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By Waleed Ibrahim and Khalid al-Ansary

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's cabinet has drawn its conclusions on a final U.S. draft of a security pact that would require American troops to leave by the end of 2011, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser said on Monday.

Adviser Yasin Majeed declined to say what the Iraqi cabinet's response to the draft was, but said it had been passed on to the presidency council, a body made up of President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents.

The action means a final decision could come soon on a pact that Baghdad and Washington are scrambling to enact in time to replace a U.N. Security Council mandate governing the U.S. presence in Iraq, which is due to expire at year-end.

A senior Shi'ite politician, whose bloc asked to delay the pact last month, suggested his followers were now more amenable to it after the election of Barack Obama -- who favors withdrawing troops -- to replace President George W. Bush.

"Our response to the U.S. amendments of the security pact has been delivered to the Presidency Council tonight," Majeed told Reuters. He said the presidency council would pass the draft on to the speaker of parliament and his two deputy speakers. Parliament must approve it for it to take effect.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: "We have not yet received an official response from the government of Iraq."

The United States sent Maliki the latest text last week in response to a last-minute Iraqi request for changes to an agreement that had been hammered out over months. U.S. officials have said the text is final and not open to further changes.

REQUESTED CHANGES
The text calls for U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011 and to move off the streets of towns and villages by the middle of next year. Iraqi officials have said the final U.S. version includes some but not all of 110 changes they requested.

The pact was blocked at the last minute last month by powerful Shi'ite parties in Maliki's ruling coalition who demanded amendments, such as removing language that allowed Iraq to request U.S. forces to stay longer than three years.

Many of the Shi'ite parties have historic ties to Iran, which strongly opposed the pact. But Shi'ites may be warming to the latest U.S. draft.

"There is an understanding that we may go forward with the pact," Hadi al-Ameri, head of the powerful Badr organization, a key part of Maliki's ruling Shi'ite coalition, told Reuters on Monday.

Ameri said Obama's victory had helped convince his followers that the United States would fulfill the commitment to withdraw its troops according to the schedule in the pact.

Obama campaigned on a promise to withdraw combat troops within 16 months of taking office, while his opponent, John McCain, opposed setting a timetable.

"Obama's idea to withdraw from Iraq coincides with our point of view on scheduling the troops' withdrawal," he said. "Iraqi politicians would not have felt reassured that the Americans would withdraw within a specified time if McCain had won."

(Writing by Peter Graff; editing by Michael Roddy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...4A962V20081110