Security deal to pass 5 stages before approval

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A leading figure of the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) Omar Abdul Sattar said on Monday that the security agreement will pass five stages before approval, calling to submit the agreement to a national referendum. “The agreement should pass several stages before approving it as the lawmakers should determine which approach will be followed in the voting process; the two third or 50 percent+1 and reading the agreement at the parliament (The first and second reading), approving it in the Parliament before ratifying it at the cabinet,” Abdul Sattar told IraqiNews.com. Iraq’s council of ministers on Sunday approved two projects for two pacts with the U.S., one of them about forces’ withdrawal and the other related to political, economic and judicial cooperation, the Iraqi cabinet’s official spokesperson said in a release. The Iraqi cabinet had endorsed the controversial pact, also known as the status-of-forces agreement (SOFA), by an overwhelming majority of 27 votes to 1. The Iraqi and U.S. sides have been negotiating a long-term security deal during the past months. The pact should determine the legal framework for the U.S. presence in Iraq after the end of this year, when the international mandate granted by the UN Security Council to the U.S. army to intervene in Iraq is due to expire. SH (S)/SR 1