UIA puts forward new reform document

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi political blocs will negotiate a new ‘reform document’ put forward by the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), an Iraqi parliamentarian said on Thursday. “The parliamentary session scheduled for this morning has been postponed in light of negotiations among political blocs over a new reform document submitted by the UIA,” MP Rasheed al-Azzawi from the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) told IraqiNews.com. The Iraqi cabinet has endorsed a controversial security pact with the United States, 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 throughout the past months. The pact should determine the legal framework for U.S. troop presence when a UN mandate expires at the end of 2008. SS (P) 1