US troops to stay until 2011
2008-10-15 19:06
Baghdad - Washington and Baghdad have
reached a final agreement after months of negotiation on a
landmark pact to allow US troops to stay in Iraq until the end
of 2011, US and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.
The two countries also reached a compromise on the difficult
question of whether US troops could be tried in Iraqi courts
for crimes committed while deployed in Iraq, an issue that both
sides had long said was holding up the pact.
The agreement was submitted to Iraqi political leaders for
approval, a first step toward ratifying it in the Iraqi
parliament, Iraq's government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said.
A US official in Washington confirmed that the final draft
had been agreed by both sides and would require US troops to
leave by the end of 2011 unless Iraq asks them to stay longer.
The administration of President George W Bush had long
resisted committing to timetables for withdrawing from Iraq, and
US officials had in the past declined to comment on any
deadlines that might be contained in the agreement.
Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said the agreement
envisions US forces withdrawing from Iraqi towns and villages
by the middle of next year, and withdraw completely from the
country within three years unless a new pact is agreed.
"The withdrawal is to be achieved in three years. In 2011,
the government at that time will determine whether it needs a
new pact or not, and what type of pact will depend on the
challenges it faces," he told Reuters.
Immunity
On the question of immunity for US troops, he said:
"Inside their bases, they will be under American law.
Iraqi
judicial law will be implemented in case these forces commit a
serious and deliberate felony outside their military bases and
when off duty."
The US official confirmed that a compromise had been
reached on the immunity issue, but gave no further details.
The bilateral pact replaces a UN Security Council
resolution enacted after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and
will give Iraq's elected government authority over the US
troop presence for the first time.
Among other effects of the change, the US military will no
longer be able to hold prisoners without charging them with
crimes under Iraqi law.
US forces are now holding 18 000
prisoners, the vast majority of whom have not been charged.
The pact still must be approved by a council of Iraqi
political leaders, the Iraqi Cabinet and Parliament.
Should they fail to approve it by the end of the year,
Dabbagh said Baghdad will seek an extension of the UN mandate.
The inclusion of a 2011 deadline in the pact could have
political ramifications in the United States.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he
wants to withdraw all US combat troops from Iraq by the middle
of 2010, while Republican John McCain has resisted setting any
deadlines.