US Troops will Withdraw by 2011
Posted by the Speaker - 19/10/08 at 07:10:31 am
The U.S. and Iraqi officials announced on Wednesday; at last, the U.S and Iraqi government have decided a final agreement after months of negotiation on a pact to allow US troops to stay in Iraq, according to the agreement, U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by the year of 2011.
The bilateral pact, which was submitted to Iraqi senior political leaders in draft form, as well, touched on the prickly question of whether US soldiers could be tried in Iraqi court for crimes committed while deployed in Iraq. This issue of jurisdiction over US troop criminality had been delaying the agreement for a while. After approval from the political leaders, the document will be present at the Iraqi parliament, said Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman. But, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “Nothing is done until everything is done. Everything isn’t done. The Iraqis are still talking among themselves. We are still talking to the Iraqis.”
On the other hand, one of the senior U.S. officials in Washington, who asked not to mention named, ensured that the final draft had been agreed by both countries and would make U.S. forces to leave by the end of 2011, unless Iraqi government want them to stay longer. Here, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has long resisted committing to schedule for withdrawing from Iraq.
Iraqi officials said the pact envisions U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraqi towns and villages by the middle of next year, and withdrawing totally from the country within three years. If forces want to stay longer, a new agreement would require to be agreed.
Ali al-Dabbagh said:
The withdrawal is to be achieved in three years. In 2011, the government at that time will determine whether it needs a new pact or not, and what type of pact will depend on the challenges it faces.
The agreement replaces a U.N. Security Council resolution enacted after the U.S. attack of Iraq in the year of 2003 and this will give Iraq’s government authority over the U.S. soldiers’ presence for the first time. Baghdad said, the pact had secured the right to prosecute U.S. soldiers for serious crimes under certain circumstances.
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