Agreement

Iraqi cabinet approves pact letting U.S. stay to 2011

Iraq's cabinet endorsed a security agreement with the U.S. that would allow an American military presence in the nation until 2011, a government spokesman said.

The Status of Forces Agreement was approved today by 27 of the cabinet's 37 ministers and now will be referred to parliament, spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a televised press conference in Baghdad. The accord must be ratified by the parliament if it is to become valid.

Iraqi leaders have been divided over when the 152,000 U.S. troops in their nation should leave, with some, such as national security adviser Mouafaq al-Rubaie, favoring President-elect Barack Obama's 16-month schedule. The United Nations mandate authorizing the U.S. forces expires on Dec. 31.

“U.S. troops will pull out of Iraqi cities by June 30 of next year and the entire country by Dec. 31, 2011,” Dabbagh said. “As of Jan. 1, 2009, the agreement returns airspace to the Iraqi government, which may seek assistance from experts from the U.S. to help manage it.”

Under the pact, U.S. troops won't be allowed to search Iraqi homes without “judicial permission and coordination with the Iraqi government,” Dabbagh said. Also there will be “no immunity for anyone who violates the law,” he said. U.S. troops would be subject to some Iraqi law as well as U.S. law, he said.

The agreement forbids the use of Iraqi territory for attacks on neighboring countries, Dabbagh said.

(Published by Bloomberg - November 17, 2008)