U.S. role in Iraq diminishes after SOFA- paper

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Many Iraqis believe that the passage of the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement has begun to limit the role of U.S. combat troops in the country, The Christian Science Monitor said on Tuesday. “A surprising development has emerged in this city’s streets and its corridors of power – the United States and its 140,000 troops have become increasingly irrelevant,” according to the newspaper report. “Some Iraqi officials see the passage of a landmark agreement with the US last week as the beginning of a new era – one in which the US presence has become overshadowed and American military power is replaced by Iraqi political power.” On Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament approved the security pact with the United States, also known as the Status-of-Forces Agreement (SOFA), with a majority of 149 votes to 35. “‘I think we are entering a new phase as a whole’,” Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told the newspaper. “‘The end of an era – of Iraqi political dynamics taking over and coinciding with the end of the Bush administration – and the end of an era with the UN Security Council resolutions and the bringing in of the Status of Forces Agreement’,” he added. “The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) provides the legal basis for US-led troops to operate in Iraq after a wartime United Nations Security Council mandate expires at the end of December. The bilateral agreement essentially transforms the US from acting as an occupier – with sweeping powers to launch military operations, detain Iraqis, and bring equipment in the country at will – to having a more normal relationship with Iraq,” the report added. “Under SOFA, American forces are to pull back to bases outside Iraq’s cities by the end of June 2009 and withdraw entirely from Iraq within three years. “The security pact was the first such agreement since the invasion to outline specific terms for US involvement in Iraq. It was also the first in the region to be publicly debated and approved. Iraqi leaders backed the agreement after reassurances from President-elect Obama that his administration would not try to change the accord negotiated by the Bush administration, Iraqi and American officials say.” SS (S) 1