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| Iraq |
| Baghdad denies end of talks on troop deal with Washington |
| 2008-07-13 |
| WASHINGTON: Iraq's national security adviser on Sunday denied a report that Washington and Baghdad have abandoned efforts to conclude a deal on the status of US troops in Iraq before the end of the presidency of George W. Bush. Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said a Washington Post story Sunday was "missing the point" and that the two sides were still aiming to achieve a pact. The Post reported that in place of the formal status-of-forces agreement negotiators had aimed to complete by July 31, the two governments are now working on a "bridge" document that would allow basic US military operations to continue beyond the expiration of a UN mandate at the end of the year, the report said. "I don't think this is true, to be quite honest," Rubaie told CNN. "We are trying very hard to get to this [July] timeline, and I believe that there is still hope," he added. The failure of months of negotiations is being blamed on both the Iraqi refusal to accept US terms and the complexity of the task, the daily said. Although Bush has repeatedly rejected calls for a troop withdrawal timeline, "we are talking about dates," acknowledged one US official close to the talks, according to the Post. Iraqi political leaders "are all telling us the same thing ... Iraqis want to know that foreign troops are not going to be here forever," the official was quoted as saying. Unlike the status-of-forces agreements with South Korea and Japan, where large numbers of US troops have been based for decades, the document now under discussion with Iraq is likely to cover only 2009, the report said. Negotiators expect it to include a "time horizon," with specific goals for US troop withdrawal from Baghdad and other cities and installations such as the palace that now houses the US Embassy, the Post said. Rubaie used similar language when discussing possibilities for agreement on troop withdrawal, saying "it is the right time now to start talking about planning a time line horizon" for an exit of foreign troops. Last week in Najaf, Rubaie said Baghdad would not reach any security pact with Washington unless it sets a "specific date for a complete withdrawal of foreign troops," a proposal turned down by Bush. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |