Iraq
minister: US Combat Troops to Pull Out in Three Years Under New
Deal
By Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
14/08/08 "The
Times" --- American soldiers will withdraw
from cities across Iraq next summer and all US combat troops
will leave the country within three years, provided the violence
remains low, under the terms of a draft agreement with the Iraqi
Government.
In one of the most detailed insights yet into the content of the
deal, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, has also told
The Times that the US military would be barred from unilaterally
mounting attacks inside Iraq from next year.
In addition, the power of arrest for US soldiers would be curbed
by the need to hand over any detainee to a new, US-Iraqi
committee. Troops would require the green light from this joint
command before conducting any operation.
The Pentagon refused to comment last night on the proposals laid
out in the draft agreement between Baghdad and Washington that
covers the status of US forces beyond 2008. Britain will strike
its own deal with Iraq but Gor-don Brown hopes to withdraw most
British troops from Iraq by next summer, reducing the number of
soldiers from 4,100 to “a few hundred” by then.
Mr Zebari said in an interview: “Our negotiators and the
Americans have almost brought it [the accord] to a close. It is
not a closed deal but it is very close.”
After five months of sometimes heated debate, the technical
part of the job – drawing up a legally sound document that
contains various compromises and is written in the right
language – is over.
Next, Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, Jalal Talabani,
the President, and other Iraqi leaders must give their approval
– something that could happen this month, although Mr Talabani
is in the United States recovering from a knee operation.
The so-called strategic framework, which includes a temporary
status-of-forces agreement (Sofa), would then be put before
parliament, which returns from a summer break in early
September.
Asked if the deal was acceptable to Iraq, Mr Zebari said: “I
think we can defend it, yes. I would say that it is the most
advanced version of a Sofa ever that the United States has done
with any other country . . . because [of] the areas of
compromises, of concessions, of understanding.
“This is not a recolonisation as some of our critics say, or
another Anglo-Iraqi treaty of the 1930s that will bind Iraq.”
The terms of the deal can be reviewed within one or two years,
subject to the approval of both sides – which ensures that the
next US Administration will not be bound by the conditions.
Mr Zebari said that the agreement also made no provision for
permanent US military bases in the country – a point of
contention for the Iraqi public. The United States has scores of
sprawling military camps up and down Iraq. Both sides “have
managed to make some compromises on all the sticky issues or
problematic areas of any Sofa, which are universal –
jurisdiction; detention; powers of authorisa-tion to launch
military operations; issues of sovereignty,” the Foreign
Minister, speaking at his office at the Foreign Ministry in
Baghdad, said.
The “time horizon” for the exit of US troops would depend
upon the ability of the Iraqi police and army to maintain
security gains in Iraq after a surge of US forces in 2007 helped
to push violence to its lowest levels in 4½ years.
“We are talking about combat troops, maybe in 2010-11, there
could be drawdowns,” Mr Zebari said, confirming that this was
referred to in the draft accord.
The strategic framework provides a legal basis for US forces
in Iraq after a UN mandate expires at the end of the year –
another contentious notion for the many Iraqis who oppose the
continuing presence of foreign troops.
President Bush has long resisted setting a firm timetable to
pull out the remaining 145,000 US servicemen and women in Iraq
but the White House has begun referring to a general “time
horizon” and “aspirational goals” in recent weeks.
The draft accord also refers to the prospect of US troops
beginning to exit small bases set up inside various cities in
Iraq to larger camps outside from next summer – which could be
as early as June – depending on the security situation.
“The idea is really to keep these forces outside the main
cities, the population centres. It doesn’t mean that they could
not enter or come through,” the Foreign Minister said. The US
Embassy in Baghdad declined to comment on the content of the
framework accord, while describing the continuing talks as
“constructive”.
The Iraqi Government must also sign a status-of-forces
agreement with Britain and all other countries with troops in
Iraq.
British and Iraqi officials have held discussions on the
matter but no negotiations have started.
Winding Down
December 31, 2008
United Nations mandate authorising presence of US-led forces in
Iraq expires
January 2009
New US president sworn in
Summer 2009
Number of British Forces in Iraq could drop to a few hundred
from 4,100
Summer 2009
US troops due to start to pull out of small bases in some cities
across Iraq to large camps outside, security conditions
permitting
2010-11
All combat forces to withdraw from Iraq provided that security
conditions on the ground allow
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