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| Iraq | ||
| Iraq wants to restrict movement of US troops | ||
| 2008-06-07 | ||
| BAGHDAD - Iraq said on Friday it would not grant U.S. troops freedom of movement for military operations in a new agreement being negotiated on extending the presence of American troops on its soil. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said the United States wanted its forces to operate with no restrictions, but this was not acceptable to Iraq. The United States is negotiating an agreement with Iraq aimed at giving a legal basis for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq after Dec. 31, when their United Nations mandate expires. While the Iraqi government has confirmed there are major differences between the two sides in the negotiations, few details of the sticking points have been made public. "What I can confirm now, with no hesitation, is that there will not be freedom of movement for American (forces) in Iraq," Salih told Arabiya television. U.S. officials said this week they would not comment on the content of the negotiations. But Western diplomats say it is unlikely the Americans would agree to any deal that would require them to seek permission from the Iraqi government for every military operation. "If we reach an agreement ... any American military movements should be in the framework of Iraqi approval and decisions and through consultations with the Iraqi side," Salih said.
Salih said the United States had asked Baghdad to maintain the U.S. military's current status, which does not require a green light from the Iraqi government for military operations. "The U.S. side asked to extend the existing status and the Iraqi side didn't see any use of that," he said. The Iraqi government's room to manoeuvre may be limited, however, by its dependence on U.S. firepower to secure its borders and tackle armed groups that defy its authority.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are also negotiating a strategic framework agreement that defines long-term bilateral ties. In Washington, a The letter was signed by senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts as well as Republican Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Souk bargaining. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-06-07 19:50 |
| #2 "It's all posturing, by both parties." Exactly. The news media is going to play this as negative for us as they possibly can. They probably heard a rumor by someone and ran with it as gospel. I read a report yesterday that said that Mookie al Sadr was an extremely powerful opposition figure who is making demands. But we all know at this point that Sadr has practically zero influence politically. |
| Posted by: Clem Cleremp4494 2008-06-07 13:14 |
| #1 It's all posturing, by both parties. Between the lines it looks like the Iraqis want - and should have, and already mostly do have - effective control over the framework of American military operations (and the majority of operations are now run in support of IA forces). We won't accept, and Iraq won't 'really' demand, that Iraqi bureaucrats have to be asked for permission for self-defense counter-attacks: though the Iraqis have to demand it for internal political purposes, they really don't want to have to give permission and thus get blamed themselves for collateral damage (and false damage claims generated by enemy propagandists). When it all settles, there will be little change from the path we are on - formal permission for major campaigns (if any occur), cooperation with IA lead units for mid-level ops, political cover for Iraqi pols for lowest level ops (with fines/compensation paid by US), and denial that special ops even happened. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-06-07 09:01 |