|
Pentagon confident of deal to keep troops in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday said it was confident the U.S. and Iraqi governments would agree to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after December 31, but did not say a deal would necessarily fall under a formal long-term framework.U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have been trying for months to reach agreement on a new status-of-forces agreement, or SOFA, to replace the current U.N. mandate governing the U.S. force presence, which expires at the end of the year. Both sides have said an agreement is close. But some key issues are still unresolved, including whether U.S. troops and other personnel can be tried for crimes in Iraqi courts. "We remain confident that we will have an arrangement that allows military forces in the future to continue to assist the Iraqi government," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. Whitman was speaking after The Washington Post reported that negotiators, fearing time is running out, have begun to consider alternatives to a formal SOFA. The newspaper said one possibility would be to extend the U.N. mandate, which would require a vote by the U.N. Security Council where there could be resistance from Russia and other countries opposed to the U.S.-led war. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki could also agree to leave negotiations to the next U.S. president, who will take office in January, the newspaper said. Asked about possible alternatives, Whitman declined to say whether the arrangement he anticipates before year-end would necessarily be a SOFA. "How that final form takes shape, we'll see," he said. "We continue to work on a status-of-forces-like agreement." Posted by: Steve White 2008-10-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=252704 |