Maliki to show neighbours US-Iraq military pact

Iraqi Kurd says US can have bases in north Iraq: report
A top Iraqi Kurdish leader has said the US military could have bases in northern Iraq if Washington and Baghdad fail to sign the controversial security deal, a local newspaper reported Sunday. Massud Barzani, the president of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, said that his government would "welcome" such a move, the Khabat, the newspaper run by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, quoted him as saying. "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 of Strategy and International Study in Washington. Baghdad and Washington are currently engaged in drawn out negotiations over an arrangement that will determine the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires. Barzani has strongly backed the controversial security deal but the signing of the pact 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. The Kurdish leader is currently in Washington for a series of talks with President George W. Bush and other American officials.

by Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) Oct 31, 2008
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday he will submit the text of the controversial security pact with the United States to all of his country's neighbours.

He would do so after Baghdad receives a US reply to five proposed amendments made by Iraq, a statement from his office said.

Maliki "will dispatch delegations to Iraq's neighbours, including Turkey, to show them the security agreement after receiving the American replies to the proposed modifications," he was quoted as telling Turkish President Abdullah Gul in a telephone conversation.

On Wednesday, US President George W. Bush promised to consider Baghdad's proposed changes to the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) but warned against shifts that risked "undermining" the accord.

The controversial deal, which negotiators have laboured over for months, is supposed to be in place by the end of the year to set new guidelines for US military operations in Iraq after the expiry of the present UN mandate.

The draft pact, which has triggered fierce opposition in Iraq, says US forces will withdraw from towns and neighbourhoods by the end of June next year and from the whole country by the end of 2011.

Iraq's neighbours include Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.

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IRAQ WARS

Iraq opposes any clause letting US stay after 2011

Baghdad (AFP) Oct 30, 2008
Baghdad wants to delete any reference in a security pact with Washington to the possibility of US troops staying in Iraq after 2011, an MP close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday.

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