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Iraq offers US long-term bases
27/11/2007 09:51 - (SA)
Baghdad - Iraq's government is prepared to offer the US a long-term troop presence in Iraq and preferential treatment for American investments in return for an American guarantee of long-term security including defence against internal coups, a report said on Monday.
The proposal, described by two senior officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like, once the US significantly reduces its troop presence.
As part of the package, the Iraqis want an end to the current UN-mandated multinational forces mission, and also an end to all UN-ordered restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty.
UN in Iraq since 1990
Iraq has been living under some form of UN restriction since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the officials said.
American troops and other foreign forces now operate in Iraq under a UN Security Council mandate, which has been renewed annually since 2003. Iraqi officials have said they want that next renewal, which must be approved by the UN Security Council by the end of this year, to be the last.
The two senior Iraqi officials said Iraqi authorities had discussed the broad outlines of the proposal with US military and diplomatic representatives. The Americans appeared generally favourable subject to negotiations on the details.
The two Iraqi officials, who are from two different political parties, spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject is sensitive. Members of parliament were briefed on the plan during a three-hour closed-door meeting on Sunday, during which lawmakers loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr objected to the formula.
US Embassy spokesperson Mirembe Nantongo noted that Iraqi officials had expressed a desire for a strategic partnership with the US in a political declaration last August and an end to the UN-mandated force.
"Thereafter then the question becomes one of bilateral relationships between Iraq and the countries of the multinational forces," she said.
"Way ahead of us"
"At that point we need to be considering long-term bilateral relationships and we're following the Iraqi thinking on this one and we agree with their thinking on this and we'll be looking at setting up a long-term partnership with different aspects to it, political, economic, security and so forth."
She said any detailed discussion of bases and investment preferences was "way, way, way ahead of where we are at the moment".
Iraqi officials foresee a long-term presence of about 50 000 US troops, down from the current figure of over 160 000.
The Iraqi target date for a bilateral agreement on the new relationship would be July, when the US intends to finish withdrawing the five combat brigades sent here this year by President Bush as part of the troop build-up that has helped curb sectarian violence.
- AP
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