U.S., Iraq reach preliminary troop pullout agreement
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—The United States and Iraq have reached a preliminary agreement on US troop withdrawals from Iraq, the head of Iraq’s negotiation team, Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud, said today.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008
13:00GMT—11:00AM/EST
US – IRAQ – TROOP – AGREEMENT
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—The United States and Iraq have reached a preliminary agreement on US troop withdrawals from Iraq, the head of Iraq’s negotiation team, Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud, said today.
“The combat troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009. Both the parties have agreed on this," he added. "The negotiators' job is done. Now it is up to the leaders," AFP quotes al-Haj Hammoud as saying.
Under the 27-point deal, US combat troops would pullout of major Iraqi cities by 30 June, 2009, while a complete troop pullout would take place by 2011, al-Haj Hammoud told AFP.
The agreement, which is already endorsed by President George W. Bush, must now be approved by Iraqi leaders and endorsed by Iraq’s veto-wielding Presidency Council.
The proposed agreement, which would replace a current U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces security agreement due to expire on 31 December 2008, lifts immunity against private US contractors operating in Iraq. The American military would retain jurisdiction over US troops except in cases where a “major crime” is committed against civilians, CNN reports.
The deal also mandates that all detainees be turned over to Iraqi authorities within 24 hours of detention regardless of whether they were captured by Iraqi or American forces.
Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had hoped last November to reach an agreement on US troop withdrawals by 31 July 2008, but the agreement was delayed over opposition from Iraqi leaders on issues such as the timing of US troop withdrawal, the number of American bases that would remain in Iraq and whether US troops would remain immune to Iraqi laws.
The announcement comes after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks in Baghdad yesterday with Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Rice, who characterized a meeting with al-Maliki earlier yesterday as "very good and fruitful”, said at a news conference after the talks that “the goal is to have Iraqi forces responsible for the security of Iraq.”
But the agreement has provisions whereby Iraq’s government can ask the United States to maintain its troops in Iraq past 31 December, 2011. A team of US and Iraqi officials would evaluate the conditions in Iraq prior to recommending a decision in such cases.
“What we’re trying to do is to put together an agreement that protects our people, that respects Iraqi sovereignty,” Rice added.
Iraq’s neighbor, Iran, has long viewed this agreement as a potential security threat, fearing that the U.S. may use military bases in Iraq to attack Iran.
Asked whether Tehran had pressured Baghdad to delay concluding the agreement, Zebari said: “This agreement includes very clear languages, that – Iraq that will not be used as a base for … aggressive acts against any neighboring country. We have carried this opinion to the Iranian officials very frankly.”
Sources: Agence France-Presse, U.S. Department of State, CNN
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