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al-Maliki Reassures Iran About U.S. Pact
Is the U.S. going to be obligated in Iraq indefinitely? Is McCain's 100 years going to become a reality?
Quote:
Iraq Shiites echo Iran concern on US pact by Jacques Charmelot
Sun Jun 8, 10:16 AM ET
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in Iran on Sunday in a bid to reassure its leaders over a proposed US defence pact but the Shiite premier faces domestic opposition too to the mooted deal.
Iran's concerns that it is the likely target of the US drive for an abiding military presence in its western neighbour are shared by many in Iraq who do not want to see their country used as a launchpad for a new war in the region.
Many of Iraq's leading Shiite politicians found asylum in Iran when Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime held power in Baghdad, and Iraq's Shiite majority has close religious and cultural links with its Shiite co-religionists across the border.
Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, whose opinions are closely adhered to, has indicated his opposition to any agreement with Washington that limits Iraqi sovereignty.
On Friday, his spokesman Abdel Mahdi Karbalai welcomed "the determination of (Iraq's) political parties to defend nationalist principles."
He encouraged them to "preserve the higher interests of the nation and not allow the violation of the sovereignty of the country in all fields, political, economic and cultural."
In a clear allusion to Iran, Karbalai said Iraq should not allow the interests of neighbouring countries to be put at risk.
Washington and Baghdad are in negotiations aimed at reaching a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the end of July to cover the presence of foreign troops beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires.
Iraqi media reports have suggested the United States is seeking to keep as many as 50 bases indefinitely, control the nation's air space, and grant both its troops and private contractors continuing immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
More than five years after the March 2003 invasion, there are still around 150,000 US troops deployed in Iraq, even after the drawdown of the additional personnel sent out under the surge policy announced in February last year.
American diplomats and military officials have vehemently denied that Washington wants to create "permanent" bases, but Iraqi politicians -- supporters and opponents of Maliki alike -- remain unconvinced.
"Washington is in clear contradiction with the principle of sovereignty," said Jalal al-Din al-Sagir, a member of parliament for the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, an influential Shiite member of Maliki's governing coalition.
Supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a fierce opponent of both the US military presence and Maliki's government, called for a popular mobilisation against the defence pact.
"The agreement with the Americans is synonymous with an act of war against the Iraqi people", Sadr supporter Sattah al-Batat told worshippers in Baghdad on Friday.
Faced with the huge domestic pressure from within his own Shiite community, Maliki has toughened his position since reaching an agreement in principle with US President George W. Bush last November to sign a deal by July 31.
Iraq now says it has a "different vision" from the United States and has "has reaffirmed its willingness to... consider all options to preserve the sovereignty and interests of the country."
The change of tone has not escaped Washington which has been quick to blame Iranian meddling.
"There has been a lot of debate (inside Iraq)," US ambassador Ryan Crocker acknowledged on Thursday.
"In terms of criticism from the neighbours, Iran in particular, I think this is deliberately intended to make the negotiations difficult," he said.
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Iraq Shiites echo Iran concern on US pact - Yahoo! News
And, according to Juan Cole:
Quote:
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki went to Iran this weekend to attempt to assuage that country's concerns about the security agreement he is negotiating with the United States. He met with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who said, "stronger relations between the two nations will help Iraq's development and stability."
Stock earlier photo courtesy Xinhuanet
Just before that consultation with Ahmadinejad, al-Maliki had met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, al-Maliki assured his host that he would not allow Iraq to be used as a base by a third party for an attack on Iran.
Bush and Cheney are desperately afraid that the next administration will get out of Iraq, thus removing the mercantilist advantages they were trying to throw to US oil companies in developing Iraqi fields. They believe they can commit the US to a long-term military presence in Iraq by becoming the guarantor of Iraqi security at least in the medium term, and by locking in that role through a security agreement between Bush and Maliki. Iran's opposition is threatening to block this deal, and thus al-Maliki's visit.
Al-Maliki will also seek Iranian reconstruction help and provision of electricity.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that its sources say that Iranian FM Mottaki informed al-Maliki of Iran's opposition to the signing of a security agreement between Iraq and the US as long as Tehran does not receive guarantees that it will participate in a regional security order.
Al-Hayat says that the chief points al-Maliki made to Mottaki were:
Iraq wants to build a strategic relationship with Iran on the basis of mutual friendship and respect.
The US is a strategic parter for Iraq, and Iran is a dear friend.
Iraq is not an arena for the settling of scores between Washington and Tehran.
Iraq will not serve as a staging ground for any attack on Iran.
Iraqis want to build a democratic, not a sectarian, state.
Al-Maliki wants an agreement with the US, but wants to confine US troops to their bases unless he authorizes an operation. He also wants private contractors to be subject to Iraqi law. His demands have thrown a wrench into the negotiations, since the Bush administration had assumed that the US military and its contractors could retain their current freedom of movement under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
Note the supreme hypocrisy of the Republican Party. Bush and McCain are attacking Barack Obama for saying he would meet with Iranian officials. But they are perfectly o.k. with their man in Baghdad, Nuri al-Maliki, doing exactly the same thing. In fact, it may well come out eventually that Bush and Cheney sent private messages to Ahmadinejad via al-Maliki.
Senior Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Mudarrisi of Karbala denounced the provisions of the current draft of the security agreement, saying that they damage Iraq's sovereignty and are therefore harmful even to the US image. Mudarrisi is an old-time Shiite political activist who heads the Islamic Action Council. He was exiled from Iraq during the Baath period, and trained some activist clergy from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
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Informed Comment
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06-09-2008, 07:26 AM
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