SOFA almost finished.

SOFA PACT NEAR: IRAQ; Hezb trains Shias

Arab Times - World 06:41In the last 10 minutes

BAGHDAD (Agencies):

Verge
Iraq
said on Wednesday it was on the verge of agreeing a controversial
Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) pact with the United States to govern
US troop levels and ground rules in the nation beyond 2008 when a UN
mandate expires.
Tough negotiations between Washington and Baghdad
on the security deal has made recent progress and an initial framework
arrangement is “almost finalised,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told
a press briefing.

“We
are talking about a strategic framework agreement that will improve
cooperation between Iraq and the United States on a whole range of
issues... We have almost finalised the document.”

In
Washington, US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe
declined to comment on Zebari’s remarks but said “negotiations are
continuing on a regular basis.”
Zebari also said that Jordan’s King
Abdullah II will visit to Iraq soon in what would be the first trip by
an Arab head of state since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
No
date has been set for the visit, which follows Jordan’s appointment on
Monday of an ambassador to Baghdad, but Zebari hailed the visit as a
sign of growing regional confidence in Iraq.

“The confidence of
Arab countries has grown in Iraq. It is very encouraging and shows
greater confidence in the country,” he said.

Washington has been urging its Arab allies, notably regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, to
send ambassadors and officials to Baghdad to help bolster support for Iraq’s mainly Shiite and Kurd leadership.

That
diplomatic push comes amid the complex and difficult security
negotiations Baghdad and Washington are trying to conclude before a
July 31 deadline.

Prominent
Meanwhile,
Iraqi security forces arrested three locally prominent supporters of
radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday as part of a
crackdown on Shiite militias in the southern city of Amarah, police
said.

All three men are members of the provincial council in
Maysan, where Amarah is the capital, and police said they were
suspected of supporting Shiite militias.

The three included
Abdul-Jabar Wahid Humaidi, head of the council, and leaders of the
council’s security and health committees — Fadhil Niama and Abdul-Latif
Jawad, police said on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to talk to the media.
A spokesman for al-Sadr, Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, criticized
the arrests, saying the Iraqi government was targeting the cleric’s
movement and violating the spirit of agreements made in talks with the
government in the run-up to the Amarah operation.

“The security
forces broke in their houses and arrested them in front of their
families in an uncivilized manner,” al-Obaidi told The Associated
Press, describing the arrests of Humaidi and Niama.

Sadrists had
promised to cooperate with the Shiite-led government’s operation in
Amarah, about 200 miles (320 kms) southeast of Baghdad, so long as
Iraqi troops did not make arrests without warrants or commit other
human rights violations. Al-Obaidi said Wednesday that the government
was not sticking to the agreement.
“In fact, there are violations in
the security plan in Maysan, but we are adhering to not confronting the
government,” said al-Obaidi.

The operation is part of a campaign
by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to assert government control in areas
of the Shiite south where militias have held sway for years.
The
US blames much of the violence in the south on “special groups” that it
says have split off from al-Sadr and are being supported by the
Iranians — a claim denied by Tehran. Iraqi security forces arrested
five of these militants around central Iraq on Saturday, said the US
military.

No matter who is elected US president in November, his
foreign policy team will have to deal with one of the most frustrating
realities in Iraq: the slow pace with which the government in Baghdad
operates. Iraq’s political and military success is considered vital to
US interests, whether American troops stay or go. While the Iraqi
government has made measurable progress in recent months, however, the
pace of its progress has been achingly slow. The White House sees the
progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new
assessment to Congress that Iraq’s efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are
satisfactory, or almost twice the number considered satisfactory a year
ago. The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press,
determines that only two of the benchmarks, enacting and implementing
laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues, are
unsatisfactory. In the past 12 months, since the White House released
its first formal assessment of Iraq’s military and political progress,
Baghdad politicians have reached several new agreements seen as
critical to easing sectarian tensions.

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=19268&ccid=11

15 views and no comment! This place is like IDI forum!

I posted this on the other site and got exactly the same lack of response.

I think the Forum members are sick of items nearly being done then hitting one of several brick walls.

Anyway I'm still of the mindset that this will RV big but if there is one thing that I have took on board is that I will never mess with politics; this investment can be fun at times but it's put twenty years on me. Good to hear from you again,

blackcats

By VOA News
03 July 2008

Iraq's foreign minister says his government and the United States have "almost finalized" a long-term security pact.

Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that Washington has shown, in his words, a "great deal of flexibility" in the negotiations. Both sides hope to reach a deal this month that would allow U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after their U.N. mandate expires in December....

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-03-voa7.cfm

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/33327

The SOFA is to become a Memorandum of Understanding.

Good reading,

blackcats

blackcats wrote:http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/33327

The SOFA is to become a Memorandum of Understanding.

Good reading,

blackcats

That's the way it should goes.

I'LLBEBACK wrote:

blackcats wrote:http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/33327

The SOFA is to become a Memorandum of Understanding.

Good reading,

blackcats

That's the way it should goes.

I personally think this is good news, as it reads like it won't encroach on the Americans agreeing to their Sovereignty. Is that what you are implying? If so the end of July is looking like a very exciting time.

Many thanks in advance

blackcats

Question ..have the Iraqi's ever postponed their vacation before that anyone can remember in this last five years...as they have just voted to do? very curious to me

yes.... they called off last july 07 ..... and did very little.

frank26 wrote:yes.... they called off last july 07 ..... and did very little.

Thanks Frank...could not remember...so it could be "*oon"...lol

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080707/tpl-uk-iraq-pact-withdrawal-43a8d4f.html

More news about the SOFA; PM Maliki has decided to set terms for a withdrawal timetable.

blackcats

blackcats wrote:

I personally think this is good news, as it reads like it won't encroach on the Americans agreeing to their Sovereignty. Is that what you are implying? If so the end of July is looking like a very exciting time.

Many thanks in advance

blackcats

"That's the way it should goes" means "we are pleased".

I'llbeback, thanks for straightening me out.

blackcats