Region | Iraq
Draft of proposed Iraqi security agreement with US 'positive'
The Iraqi government said on Saturday it expects a vote in the cabinet on the proposed security pact with the US in the next 48 hours, following an agreement reached by the major parties.
- By Basil Adas, Correspondent
- Published: 23:41 November 15, 2008
- The security pact determines how long US forces will remain in Iraq
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Baghdad: The Iraqi government said on Saturday it expects a vote in the cabinet on the proposed security pact with the US in the next 48 hours, following an agreement reached by the major parties.
"There is an accord among senior leaders of political blocs to sign the agreement before the end of this year," said Ali Al Adeeb, a close aid to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and a member of the negotiation team. The agreement would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their UN mandate expires on December 31.
There will be no consensus in the cabinet or the parliament, he told Gulf News, but it will be passed by a majority of the members of both bodies.
"I believe now is the time to sign the agreement that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their UN mandate expires on December 31. because the new American president Barack Obama will need some time to deal with the Iraqi issue," he added in an interview in Baghdad.
An aide to Al Maliki told the Associated Press on Saturday that Iraq and the US were now in agreement over the final draft of the pact.
Copies of the agreement were to be distributed to cabinet members on Saturday after a final revision of the Arabic translation and could be put to a vote in an emergency meeting today or tomorrow, he added.
The aide said on condition of anonymity that the agreement stands "a good chance" of being passed by a two-thirds majority in the 37-member cabinet.
If adopted by the cabinet, the agreement will be voted on in parliament.
Gulf News has learned that a meeting attended by Al Maliki, President Jalal Al Talabani, Rose Nouri Shaways, a representative of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani in Baghdad and Vice-Presidents Adel Abdul Mahdi and Tariq Al Hashemi, has agreed on the final draft.
'Positive'
"The final draft is very positive, and the Accordance Front would support it because the Americans have made concessions to the Iraqis, including the right of Iraq to inspect US hardware and placing US soldiers under the Iraqi judiciary in case they committed crimes outside their military mandate," Khalaf Al Olayan, a senior official at the front, the largest Sunni group in the parliament, told Gulf News.
The group's position is in line with those of the other key parties in Iraq, including the two Kurdish parties led by Barzani and Al Talabani, Al Dawa Party led by Al Maliki, the Islamic Supreme Council led by Abdul Aziz Al Hakim. The Accordance Front is led by Vice President Tariq Al Hashemi.
Gulf News has also learnt that the Shiite Fadhila party, which has 15 members in the parliament, decided to support the agreement.
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