Draft law to curb American role in Iraq

Baghdad: An Iraqi military document has revealed important details of a security draft representing current talks between the government of Iraq and the US concerning an agreement between the two states, senior military officials said.

The suggested draft agreement will substitute the international resolution, which puts Iraq under the American tutelage according to chapter seven of the UN convention.

The document, which was prepared by the head of the military and security studies centre at the Iraqi Defence Ministry, Colonel Najm Al Deen Al Nakshabandi weeks before his retirement, says there is an Iraqi-American understanding to retain 100,000 American soldiers in Iraq until 2010.

Armed militias

It is stated that Iraq needs this number of forces to confront Al Qaida's activities and Shiite armed militias inside Iraq and also to secure its borders on the regional level.

The document adds, "The Iraqi - American treaty which must be completed at the end of July, will be a comprehensive economic, financial, commercial, cultural, political and military treaty." Al Nakshabandi's document suggests that the Iraqi-American military agreement will be similar to the joint defence treaty signed between the US and Kuwait and the number of American forces will decrease to less than fifty thousand American soldiers after 2010.

The document argues that regional dangers on Iraq particularly by Iran and Syria would have a decisive role in determining the important details and approaches of any Iraqi- American military agreement.

The document also revealed that Americans offered to establish three temporal military bases two years from now; one in the south specifically in Basra after the British military withdrawal, the second in Taji or Balad and the third one will be in the northern Iraq province of Mosul.

Obligations

Besides the signing of an Iraqi-American legal military agreement, a military cooperation agreement will also be signed. It is not immediately clear what the Iraqi reaction to the American offer will be.

The legal agreement will include determining the rights and obligations of American forces and this will focus on vital points like eliminating the impunity and privilege of American forces that will stay in Iraq next year.

The document states that the Iraqi government seeks a similar legal arrangement to the American-German agreement after the second world war.

For instance, they will not have the right to arrest an Iraqi citizen; wander within Iraqi cities or carry weapons without Iraqi authorisation. Iraq also wants American forces to pay fees and taxes on goods needed by Americans in Iraqi territories.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government will have the right to detain any American involved in violating Iraqi laws and it can inspect American camps in the event that they threaten Iraqi national security.

Factfile: US military surge

General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker updated Congress on Tuesday on progress made during a "surge" of force in the war zone credited with helping to reduce violence. Here are facts about the surge strategy and its goals.

• Surge strategy: President George W. Bush ordered the US military to increase troop levels in Iraq in January 2007 under a strategy known commonly as the "surge" that included security, political, economic and regional components.
• Five brigade combat teams, including about 20,000 combat troops and another 10,000 support personnel, were sent to Iraq from February to mid-June.
• Iraq agreed to deliver additional Iraqi forces to Baghdad and to bar political officials from interfering with security operations.
• Goals for the government: Take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November 2007
• Give US and coalition forces authority to pursue all extremists
• Pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis
• Reform de-Baathification laws and hold provincial elections in 2007
• Progress towards goals: Attacks in Iraq declined 60 per cent during the surge, according to the US military. Deaths from sectarian violence dropped 90 per cent after the last additional US combat brigade arrived in Iraq in June 2007. But violence has climbed in 2008 due to Al Qaida activity in the north and intra-Shi'ite violence in the south.

- Reuters