Council of Ministers demands amendments to agreement draft

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Council of Ministers unanimously agreed that there are necessary amendments which need to be made to the current security agreement draft, the official spokesman of the Iraqi government said on Tuesday. “The Council of Ministers convened in an ordinary session today to discuss the current draft of the agreement with the United States,” Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement released from his office and received by IraqiNews.com. “The Council appreciated the efforts of the Iraqi negotiating team and the progress it has achieved in the negotiations bringing the discussions closer to the principles stated by the Government at the beginning of the negotiations,” the statement added. Al-Dabbagh stressed that the Council of Ministers called on all sides to review the agreement objectively and responsibly, taking Iraq’s interest into consideration. Al-Dabbagh added that the Council of Ministers has unanimously agreed that there are necessary amendments which need to be made to the current draft in order to raise the agreement to a nationally acceptable level. “The Council called upon the Ministers to submit these amendments in order for them to be included in the negotiations with the American side,” the statement said. The U.S. and Iraqi governments are currently negotiating a security pact that would regulate the presence of foreign troops in the country after 2008. A declaration of principles was signed between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was scheduled to be ratified on July 31, 2008 and to come into force as of January 1, 2009. The agreement governs the presence of U.S. forces in the country after 2008 and will not come into force without the approval of the Iraqi Parliament, which has 275 members from five blocs, in addition to the Sadrist movement and al-Fadhila party. The U.S. troops’ presence currently relies on a mandate by the United Nations and is annually renewed at the request of the Iraqi government.   SH (S)/SR   1