Officials: US, Iraq take security pact to leaders (Final Status of Forces Agreement)

Jerusalem Post/AP ^ | 10/15/2008 | Unattributed

[mojito]

US and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain.

The draft calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving diplomacy on the so-called Status of Forces Agreement.

The draft, reached after months of halting and often tense talks, contains elements that are expected to further aggravate an already difficult effort to get the Iraqi government and parliament on board, the officials said.

It also may draw objections from US lawmakers, whose support is not legally required but is considered essential to the eventual success of any deal, according to the officials....

Without an agreement soon, the officials said Tuesday that the two sides will have to begin to look more seriously at alternatives that include extending the U.N. authority, which is fraught with complications.

The officials would not discuss the draft agreement in detail. Yet they did discuss the troop pullout dates and described in general outlines the provisions on legal immunity. Under the agreement, Iraqi authorities would have a limited role in the prosecution of off-duty US soldiers accused of committing crimes off their bases, they said.

Meanwhile, civilian employees of the Defense Department would be afforded the same immunities granted to State Department workers under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the officials said.

[mojito]

It would be nice to get this resolved quickly.

[pissant]

Get ‘er done.

[pfflier]

Sounds like the Iraqis want to not only assume sovereignty, but understand the methods needed to wean them of US support.

The issue of prosecution is a bone of contention to me considering the reactive media coverage of all the women, children, puppies and kittens killed in each US attack before the true facts come out.