November 17, 2008
BAGHDAD: Iraq's cabinet defied fiery opposition from Shia hardliners last night to approve a wide-ranging military pact that includes a timetable for the withdrawal of all US troops by the end of 2011.
Baghdad and Washington have been scrambling for months to reach an agreement that will govern the status of more than 150,000 US soldiers stationed in 400 bases across the country after their UN mandate expires on December 31.
The cabinet approved the agreement after a 2 1/2-hour meeting, with 27 ministers out of 38 voting for it, according to government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.
"There was a positive position taken on the part of the larger blocs and all the most important blocs," Mr Dabbagh said.
"They all expressed a positive position because they consider it the best (agreement) possible, because it will manage and end the military presence and guarantee the complete withdrawal of the troops."
The measure will now need to be approved by a majority of the 275-member parliament through a process that will take at least aweek.
It would then be ratified by Iraq's presidential council before Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would sign the deal with US President George W. Bush.
The two major parties in parliament, the Shia United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish bloc, already had enough votes on their own to approve the agreement, said Shia politician Sami al-Askary, who is also an adviser to Mr Maliki. But the Iraqi Government wanted a broad consensus on the deal, and the US and Iraq had been lobbying smaller blocs headed by Sunni politicians and others to approve the pact.
Iraq's lead negotiator Muwafaq al-Rubaie said on Friday he believed the draft agreement was a "very good text" and expected it to be approved by parliament as well. The White House, too, was upbeat, describing the text of the accord as a "good agreement" that suited both nations.
It took nearly 11 months of tense and detailed negotiations before Baghdad and Washington were comfortable with the Status of Forces Agreement on thefuture of US forces in Iraq. "At some stages we went through we said, well, this couldn't be done. It is very difficult, it is literally impossible to do. Other times we said, well, okay, it's better now, we have progressed," Mr Rubaie said.
The draft agreement includes 31 articles and calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June next year and from the entire country by the end of 2011.
But the pact has drawn fire from hardline nationalists, especially the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters have called for mass demonstrations to oppose any agreement with the US "occupier".
Iraq has seen dramatic improvements in security over the past year as US and Iraqi forces have allied with local tribal militias to flush insurgents and militias out of vast swaths of thecountry that were once ungovernable.
The reduction in violence has also been partly attributed to an order by Sadr at the end of August last year to his thousands-strong Mahdi Army militia to observe a ceasefire.
But on Friday, Sadr announced the creation of a new militia - the Brigades of the Promised Day - to fight the US.
The objections of the firebrand cleric, who is believed to be living in Iran, will have little impact on the decision, given that his party has only hold 28 seats in Iraq's 275-seat parliament.
The SOFA comprises two sections, security chapters initially drafted by the US and the general document, the "strategic framework agreement", put together by the Iraqis.
On November 5, the US gave Iraq its amended version of the pact and stated the negotiations were finished.
BAGHDAD: Iraq's cabinet defied fiery opposition from Shia hardliners last night to approve a wide-ranging military pact that includes a timetable for the withdrawal of all US troops by the end of 2011.
Baghdad and Washington have been scrambling for months to reach an agreement that will govern the status of more than 150,000 US soldiers stationed in 400 bases across the country after their UN mandate expires on December 31.
The cabinet approved the agreement after a 2 1/2-hour meeting, with 27 ministers out of 38 voting for it, according to government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.
"There was a positive position taken on the part of the larger blocs and all the most important blocs," Mr Dabbagh said.
"They all expressed a positive position because they consider it the best (agreement) possible, because it will manage and end the military presence and guarantee the complete withdrawal of the troops."
The measure will now need to be approved by a majority of the 275-member parliament through a process that will take at least aweek.
It would then be ratified by Iraq's presidential council before Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would sign the deal with US President George W. Bush.
The two major parties in parliament, the Shia United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish bloc, already had enough votes on their own to approve the agreement, said Shia politician Sami al-Askary, who is also an adviser to Mr Maliki. But the Iraqi Government wanted a broad consensus on the deal, and the US and Iraq had been lobbying smaller blocs headed by Sunni politicians and others to approve the pact.
Iraq's lead negotiator Muwafaq al-Rubaie said on Friday he believed the draft agreement was a "very good text" and expected it to be approved by parliament as well. The White House, too, was upbeat, describing the text of the accord as a "good agreement" that suited both nations.
It took nearly 11 months of tense and detailed negotiations before Baghdad and Washington were comfortable with the Status of Forces Agreement on thefuture of US forces in Iraq. "At some stages we went through we said, well, this couldn't be done. It is very difficult, it is literally impossible to do. Other times we said, well, okay, it's better now, we have progressed," Mr Rubaie said.
The draft agreement includes 31 articles and calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June next year and from the entire country by the end of 2011.
But the pact has drawn fire from hardline nationalists, especially the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters have called for mass demonstrations to oppose any agreement with the US "occupier".
Iraq has seen dramatic improvements in security over the past year as US and Iraqi forces have allied with local tribal militias to flush insurgents and militias out of vast swaths of thecountry that were once ungovernable.
The reduction in violence has also been partly attributed to an order by Sadr at the end of August last year to his thousands-strong Mahdi Army militia to observe a ceasefire.
But on Friday, Sadr announced the creation of a new militia - the Brigades of the Promised Day - to fight the US.
The objections of the firebrand cleric, who is believed to be living in Iran, will have little impact on the decision, given that his party has only hold 28 seats in Iraq's 275-seat parliament.
The SOFA comprises two sections, security chapters initially drafted by the US and the general document, the "strategic framework agreement", put together by the Iraqis.
On November 5, the US gave Iraq its amended version of the pact and stated the negotiations were finished.
Source: The Australian
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