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Parliament may scuttle Iraq pact

Dubai: The Iraq-U.S. security pact has five key features.

First, the pact states that all U.S. forces should withdraw from Iraq by December 31, 2011. Second, American troops are to pull out from Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009. Third, the U.S. has agreed it will not use Iraqi soil to raid or attack a neighbouring country. Analysts say the provision would help safeguard Iranian interests. Fourth, the U.S. agreed to drop its demand that its forces would not face prosecution under Iraqi law in case of wrongdoing. A joint committee, which would include Iraqis and Americans, will be formed to decide on how to deal with cases involving U.S. forces for crimes committed outside their military bases.

According to observers, the deal has the tacit approval of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shia cleric in Iraq. However, the agreement has to face two major hurdles before it is finally approved. Iraq’s Parliament has to approve the Cabinet decision by a simple majority. A major Shia bloc, loyal to cleric Moqtada al Sadr opposes the agreement in its present form. Sadrist legislator Ahmed al-Masoudi said on Sunday the government’s backing for the U.S.-Iraq security pact “did not mean anything.” He said Parliament would reject the pact because “a large number of lawmakers from different blocs” stood opposed to it. Rejecting the timetable, the Sadrists want U.S. troops to leave Iraq immediately.

Even if Iraq’s Parliament approves the pact, its passage into law would face another major hurdle. The draft, under Iraqi law, would have to be unanimously ratified by a three-member presidency council.

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