U.S. is prime winner in pact – Sunni MP

BAGHDAD / Awat al-Iraq: A Sunni lawmaker on Saturday said that the Iraqi-U.S. security pact is about U.S. forces’ withdrawal from Iraq, but the U.S. side is the prime winner in this pact. “Those forces entered the country and created divisions among its people,” Dhafir al-Ani of the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) said during an Iraqi parliament session. “President-elect Barack Obama had said that he would withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq within 16 months, while the pact extends their presence in the country to three years,” he added. “Current arguments over the pact make us feel there has been no national consensus regarding previous decisions, such as the provincial election law,” he added. Ani pointed out that the pact requires more time, noting “we should not debate it while time is hanging over us like a sword”. “We should not link our will to others, and as I see it, it is difficult to sign the pact within the current divisions between political entities,” he noted, adding all blocs have not changed their stances concerning the pact. “Personally, I am not rushing a U.S. withdrawal until finding a suitable mechanism in this regard,” he added. “Current complications are because of the occupation,” he asserted. MH (P)/AmR 1