Iraq wants to remove any possibility that US troops could remain after 2011 from a proposed security agreement now under negotiation, a Shiite lawmaker close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Thursday.
The draft would have US soldiers leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the government were to ask them to stay to help with training or other missions. But Ali al-Adeeb, a member of the prime minister’s inner circle, said the government wanted that possibility removed.
“The Iraqi side wants to remove any mention of a possible extension of US troops, fearing that the existing clause might be subjected to misinterpretation or could bear different interpretation because Multinational Forces might demand for extension depending on their evaluation of the security forces or the incomplete readiness of the Iraqi forces,” Ali al-Adeeb told reporters.
Hopes of the administration of US President George W. Bush to secure the deal while in office were fading with the new Iraqi demands.
“The window for any kind of discussions, negotiations is rapidly coming to a close,” US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said on Thursday, alluding to Jan. 20, when a new US president takes over.
Wood said officials continued to go over the Iraqi proposal for changes, but he repeated the administration’s insistence that the existing draft was a “good text.”
Administration officials were troubled by the proposed Iraqi amendments to a text US negotiators had thought was complete. And even if those issues were resolved, there was still no guarantee that the Iraqi parliament would approve the so-called Status of Forces Agreement. Failure to bridge the gaps would leave two options: Extend the UN mandate after its current Dec. 31 expiration or suspend all US operations in Iraq.
US officials have urged the Iraqis to consider what could happen if the US were to suspend military operations.
Violence has been down sharply after the Sunni revolt against al-Qaeda and the routing of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq last spring. But the US military has also been providing considerable help to Iraqi ministries in infrastructure and quality of life projects that would have to stop.
The White House, State Department and Pentagon all refused to discuss possible alternatives to securing a deal on Thursday, saying they were still reviewing Iraq’s proposed amendments received on Wednesday.
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