Source: Al-Ahram Weekly
Author: Salah Nasrawi
As the year-end deadline for American forces in Iraq to leave the country approaches, Iraqi and American policy-makers are at loggerheads over an agreement on the future of military cooperation between the two countries, after Iraq’s political leadership insisted that there will be no immunity for any remaining US soldiers.
However, despite headlines that negotiators are struggling in their efforts to come up with a plan to keep some US soldiers in Iraq beyond the 31 December deadline, there are signs that Baghdad and Washington could come up with a compromise.
Leaders of Iraq’s political blocs have admitted the need for US military trainers to remain in the country after the end of the year, but they have also asserted their sovereignty by withholding any immunity for them, which would have exempted the trainers from possible prosecution.
Under the 2008 agreement signed between the US and Iraq, all American troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and while Iraq has said that it is committed to the agreement, some US officials have been advocating a continued presence for US troops past the withdrawal date.
Washington has insisted that any US troops remaining in Iraq beyond the scheduled pull-out must have legal protection and be immune from prosecution.
Categories: Human Rights, Iraq, Middle East, United States, War