MP calls for Iraqi gov’t to delay signing U.S. security pact

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com: A lawmaker from the main Sunni bloc on Wednesday called for the government to wait until a national consensus would be reached on the security with U.S. “The Iraqi political scene manifested no national consensus among the national parties on Iraq-U.S. security deal,” MP Dhafir al-Ani from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF). “There was no point in presenting the agreement to the parliament since it might not be passed,” he explained. When about asked about U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ warning of “dramatic consequences” if Washington and Baghdad do not agree a security deal on U.S. forces in Iraq, the MP said “lawmakers represents Iraqi people and would take the Iraqi interest and would not succumb to U.S. dictations”. Pentagon chief said that failure to reach a new status of forces agreement (SOFA) or renew the current U.N. mandate for U.S. troops would result in dramatic consequences. Meanwhile, MP Hassan al-Suneid from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) deemed some items of the agreement “Iraq’s sovereign ruling and control over military post are on collision course with Iraqi interests” “We will not sign an agreement violating the Iraqi government’s sovereignty and can inflict Iraqi citizens, “he stressed. Earlier Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraq’s cabinet decided to ask for changes in the draft negotiators finalized last week, but did not publicly say exactly what changes it wants. A spokesman said they are needed to win what he called “national acceptance” of the continued presence of U.S. forces. The pact, reached after months of negotiations, governs the presence of U.S. troops after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31. Copies of the draft, which became available, last week, sparked an intensely public debate among top politicians. It specifies U.S. troops must leave Iraqi cities by the end of June and be gone by 2012 and gives Iraq limited authority over off-duty, U.S. soldiers who commit crimes. The pact must be ratified by the 275-seat parliament, which is riven by the narrow partisan interests, sectarian and ethnic divisions that have defined Iraqi politics since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein regime. AM(I) 1