Cabinet approves security pact

2008-11-16 19:18

Baghdad - Iraq's Cabinet on Sunday approved a security pact with the United States that will allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three years after their UN mandate expires at the end of the year.

The decision followed months of difficult negotiations and, pending Parliamentary approval, will remove a major point of contention between the two allies.

Parliament's deputy speaker, Khalid al-Attiyah, said he expected the 275-member legislature to begin debating the document this week and vote on it by November 24.

Government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said all but one of the 28 Cabinet ministers present in Sunday's meeting, in addition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, voted for the pact by a show of hands.

The Cabinet has 37 members and it was not immediately clear why some ministers stayed away. Several of them were believed to be travelling abroad.

"This is an important and positive step," said US Embassy spokesperson Adam Ereli.

Draft amended

Sunday's vote followed Washington's decision last week to grant a last request by al-Maliki to amend the draft.

The amendment removed what al-Attiyah said was ambiguous language that could allow US forces not to adhere to a timeline for their withdrawal from Iraqi cities by the end of June and from the entire country by January 1 2012.

Violence continues to plague parts of Iraq despite a dramatic improvement in security over the past year, and the attacks underscore the notion that Iraq's nascent security forces still need US backing to counter the insurgency.

"I'm optimistic that this agreement will be passed through the Council of Representatives (parliament)," al-Dabbagh told Associated Press Television News.

But he added: "You cannot guarantee 100% approval of anything."

Neighbouring Iran has bitterly opposed the pact, but Iranian state television took a more nuanced position in a commentary on Sunday after it became clear that emboldened Iraqi leaders were going their own way on the pact.

"This is a victory for the al-Maliki government, which was able to apply its own viewpoints," it said.

- AP