Friday, June 13, 2008

Talks on US-Iraq pact at 'dead end'

Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, says talks with the US on a new long-term security pact have reached a "dead end". The US and Iraq are negotiating a new agreement to provide a legal basis for US troops to stay in Iraq after December 31, when their UN mandate expires.

They are also negotiating a long-term strategic framework agreement on political, diplomatic, economic, security and cultural ties.

"We have reached a dead end, because when we started the talks, we found that the US demands hugely infringe on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this we can never accept," al-Maliki said during a visit to Jordan on Friday.

[More]


Comment:

Thank God. If Bush had successfully been able to push this through, it would have been a catastrophe. Not only would it have tied up the troops that are so badly needed in Afghanistan, but it would have eliminated any credibility that the Iraqi government may have had, almost certainly throwing the country into turmoil as the current fragile political coalition disintegrates. This would have made it immensely more difficult for President Obama to redeploy.

Speaking of Afghanistan, I am making progress on figuring out which districts are currently held by the Taliban. Most of the country is actually much quieter than I had realized, with almost all of the fighting being confined to a relatively small area.

1 comment:

PJ said...

I find it interesting that the issues with Gitmo and various other controversial topics (e.g. this agreement) are being resolved in ways that a more Obama-ish administration would have them resolved.

It's interesting because our next President (McCain or Obama)can't say "Under my Presidency we restored the right of Habeas Corpus" and perhaps this issue of troops in Iraq will be resolved similarly so that the next Pres. can't say "I worked out an agreement with the Iraqis which Bush failed to do."

Perhaps Bush will even unveil bin Laden and march him through the streets of D.C.! Thus depriving the next Pres. of that accomplishment too!

Just some thoughts.