Bush confident U.S.-Iraq security pact will pass-paper

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com : U.S. President George Bush on Wednesday said that he is confident a security pact with Iraq will be approved despite changes Baghdad wants to make to the deal that will government U.S. presence in Iraq after the end of the year, an American paper said. “The U.S. had received and negotiators were analyzing the Iraqis’ proposed amendments to the so-called Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)” Philadelphia Daily news cited Bush as saying. “We obviously want to be helpful and constructive without undermining basic principles,” the paper quoted Bush as saying in the Oval Office during a meeting with Massoud Barzani, the president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. “I remain very open and confident that the SOFA will get passed,” he added. The Iraqis are seeking four changes in the deal, including one concerning judicial jurisdiction that they acknowledge would be difficult for the Americans to accept. The U.S. has said previously that it had made its final offer to the Iraqis, but the administration is continuing to entertain revisions. “The bar to any revisions is very high,” the daily cited State Department spokesman Sean McCormack as saying. “All of that said, this is a serious negotiation process on a serious issue and we will take seriously any comments from the Iraqis. We will do a thoughtful, thorough review of them and then provide them a response” McCormack added. “There is a still a lot of life left in the process and it’s really the focus of our efforts,” he acknowledged Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the U.S. would be hesitant to restart broad negotiations with the Iraqis, but is willing to take a look at the Iraqis’ proposed changes. AM(I) 1