US, Iraq agree to let troops stay until 2011

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Washington and Baghdad have reached a final agreement after months of negotiation on a landmark pact to allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq until the end of 2011, U.S. and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.

The two countries also reached a compromise on the difficult question of whether U.S. troops could be tried in Iraqi court for crimes committed while deployed in Iraq, an issue that both sides had long said was holding up the pact.

The agreement was submitted to Iraqi political leaders for approval, a first step toward ratifying it in the Iraqi parliament, Iraq's government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

A U.S. official in Washington confirmed that the final draft had been agreed by both sides and would require U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2011 unless Iraq asks them to stay longer.

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush had long resisted committing to timetables for withdrawing from Iraq, and U.S. officials had in the past declined to comment on any deadlines that might be contained in the agreement.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LF583617.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. Well its good to know

that the USA's tax payers are happy to maintain the cost of occupation.

How generous of them :sarcasm:

[Barrett808]

2. Excellent news - a timetable and an apparently a reasonable SOFA

Looks like Bush caved in almost every way.

[Hydra]

3. Not enough teeth

The judicial provision will be overridden by the declaration that the Soldiers were "engaging insurgents" and the timetable is subject to revision in the future.

The real question here is whether Obama will be declared the next president in a month. If it's McCain, Iraq is the one who caved on this.

It's too bad- Al-Malaki had us when he declared that we had to leave.

[ronnie624]

4. Non news.

Propaganda on behalf of the Republicans. Nothing here indicates any real change in current U.S. policy regarding Iraq. In fact, the headline is inconsistent with the information contained in the body of the article. It leaves the impression that an agreement has already been reached.

The agreement was submitted to Iraqi political leaders for approval, a first step toward ratifying it in the Iraqi parliament, Iraq's government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

A U.S. official in Washington confirmed that the final draft had been agreed by both sides and would require U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2011 unless Iraq asks them to stay longer.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the agreement envisions U.S. forces withdrawing from Iraqi towns and villages by the middle of next year, and withdraw completely from the country within three years unless a new pact is agreed.

[kurt_cagle]

5. No reason for the Iraqis to agree to this

until after the elections.

They recognize that the Bush administration is in the last three weeks of its existence and can read the polls as much as anyone. They are not going to give Bush (or McCain) a propaganda coup knowing that an Obama presidency could revisit this as soon as next month with a whole different set of dynamics.

It's Republican talking points, that's all.

[ronnie624]

6. The propaganda comment was in reference to Reuters. n/t

[denverbill]

7. A timetable? Does that mean we surrendered and are cutting and running?

I'm sure FOX news is all over this, berating Bush and calling him a traitor for daring to suggest we set a deadline for removing our troops. Right?

[sabra]

8. didn't Palin say something like "Say it ain't so Joe, waiving the white flag of surrender"