Region | Iraq
US-Iraq security pact signed
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari and US ambassador Ryan Crocker signed a long-awaited accord on Monday requiring Washington to withdraw its forces within three years.
- By Basil Adas, Correspondent
- Published: 23:29 November 17, 2008
- Zebari (right) with Crocker on Monday after signing the pact that will let US troops stay in Iraq until 2011.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Baghdad: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari and US ambassador Ryan Crocker signed a long-awaited accord on Monday requiring Washington to withdraw its forces within three years.
The accord puts a formal end to months of negotiations on the future of the US presence, which the Iraqi government approved on Sunday. The pact must still be passed by the Iraqi parliament, but the government is confident it will achieve this by the end of the month.
"Definitely, this is a historic day for Iraqi-American relations," Zebari told reporters after exchanging signed copies of the pact with Crocker.
Strategic framework
Apart from the troops pact, the two signed a long-term strategic framework, which Crocker said would define relations between the countries over the years in "economy, culture, science, technology, health and trade, to name just a few".
However, Syria's information minister, Mohsen Bilal, said the pact amounts to an "award to the occupiers" of Iraq.
Division over the pact was also expressed among Iraqis themselves.
"I am glad to see amendments that will allow the transfer the more than 19,000 Iraqi detainees under US control to the Justice Ministry. My father was arrested in 2004 and now I hope for his release," Diaa Al Samarrai, a university student, told Gulf News.
Even in anti-us Sadr City neighbourhoods, some have expressed support for the pact.
"Now us forces cannot search any house or launch any airstrike without the consent of the Iraqi government," Habib Mohamad, an official at the Iraqi Industry Ministry told Gulf News.
Sunni neighbourhoods have expressed concern over the the pact. "I fear the return of arbitrary arrests, and the resumption of kidnapping and killing of young people," Jasem Al Qaisi, a Baghdad resident told Gulf News.
Iraqi lawmakers yesterday debated a pact with the US that will allow US forces to remain for three more years, and neighbouring Syria criticised the security agreement as a virtual surrender to American interests.
More than two-thirds of the 275-seat legislature attended the session, raising confidence that parliament will be able to muster a quorum for the vote on November 24.
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