Posted on 06/17/2008 8:18:15 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Sunday that US-Iraqi negotiations for a long-term security pact were not dead and that despite difficulties, a deal would be signed "by the end of July."
"These talks are ongoing. They're not dead," Zebari said of negotiations to decide the future of the US military presence in Iraq after the current UN mandate expires in December.
"Definitely, there hasn't been an impasse," he told CNN.
Zebari said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's statement Friday in Amman that Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) talks were at an impasse had been "corrected and clarified."
Maliki had said the talks were deadlocked because of concern the deal infringes Iraqi sovereignty.
Zebari stressed that, as a member of the negotiating team, "I know what's going on. We made a great deal of progress on finalizing the strategic framework agreement."
Asked whether a key stumbling block in the negotiations was who would authorize the movement of US troops inside Iraq -- Baghdad or Washington -- Zebari was cautious.
"Here we have some difficult issues we need to resolve, issues of sovereignty, of immunities, of the authorization to launch military operations ... But in all these areas, there has been flexibility from the US negotiating team. And they have offered some alternative proposal. That's why these talks are ongoing and it's promising.
"I'm confident that we will be able to secure the strategic framework agreement by the end of July."
Asked to repeat his comment, Zebari insisted: "By the end of July."
Zebari said that in the SOFA agreement Iraq had "made it absolutely clear that Iraq will not be used for any offensive actions or for any attacks against any of Iraq's neighbors," including Iran.
Pressed on whether the United States would be barred from sending planes from Iraqi bases to attack camps inside Iran if they were used to train anti-US forces, Zebari said Washington had "other alternatives" in the region.
"The US military ability beyond Iraq," he said.
While admitting "our relations are difficult, not easy" with Iran, Zebari said Iraq had always sought "healthy relations" with its neighbor.
On the upcoming US presidential election and its candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, Zebari politely refused to say who he liked better, but said he was sure that as the campaign evolved, "Iraq will come back to haunt both candidates."
The foreign minister had one message for both contenders: "that, really, Iraq has gone a long way.
"I mean, Iraq has been to hell many times and back. And now we have the right policies, the right personnel, and we have a committed government to accomplish its national agenda.
"And the surge strategy has worked. I have just reported to the Security Council, a couple of days ago, that Iraq is witnessing the lowest level of violence and terrorist attacks."
Zebari met with McCain early Sunday and was scheduled to speak with Obama by telephone on Monday, according to CNN.
Iraq & US treaty ping.
Isn’t Zebari the one that Obama just said he talked to??
Iraq will do what it needs to do to keep us there for at leat another few years. Of Course, Obama may very well herald a surrender to the terrorists there and elsewhere.
I know what it means for Obama but I wonder what that means with regard to McCain's position on Iraq?
might be a decent one...seems to be unique.
Earlier article....FR thread:
I was saying ...Iraqsofa...might be a decent keyword...SOFA ...being Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
Yes,/...good question...I don’t see anything haunting to McCain ...
You are fast...
After I posted that question I thought of McCain saying "we'll be in Iraq for 100 years." Maybe that is what the guy was thinking about that could haut McCain?
H/T to the LWJ (Long War Journal ) sidebar for pointing to this news article....
Hmmm....could be.
Does the agreement require Senate ratification? If so, it will die in the upper chamber (pot) over here. Otherwise, there is extremely strong incentive for Iraq to get this completed while GWB is still at the helm. Even though McCain talks tough, you never know what he’ll throw under the bus to please his lib friends.
Iraqi violence down and gov't confidence rising (from the AP chief of bureau in Baghdad)
Iran and our Leftists don’t want to see anything GOOD come out of the efforts of President Bush .
Sometimes.
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