US and Iraq 'very close' to deal

Foreign minister warns that "bold decisions" are needed if Iraq's parliament is to accept troop level agreement.

Baghdad // The US and Iraq are "very close" to striking a deal to legalise the presence of US troops in the country, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, said yesterday. But he warned that "bold political decisions" would be needed if the controversial agreement was to be accepted by the Iraqi parliament before a deadline of Dec 31. Iraqi nationalists have said that any deal must include a clear timetable for a US military withdrawal.

Mr Zebari refused to go into details about the talks, saying only that negotiations are ongoing. However, he promised there would be no back-room deals with the US, and that Iraqi members of parliament would decide whether to accept or reject any proposed terms and conditions after open debate. "There is a positive atmosphere regarding this agreement and it will not include any secret appendices," he said. "It will be transparent and public and the final word will come from the representatives of the Iraqi people."

The US and Iraqi administrations have been in discussion for months, trying to finalise a status of forces agreement before the end of the year, when the UN mandate under which US troops operate is due to expire. The talks hit a deadlock over the legal status of US soldiers, with Washington insisting troops should be immune from prosecution under Iraqi law for any crimes they commit on Iraqi soil. Nouri al Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, has insisted that foreign soldiers should be subject to domestic criminal law.

Mr Zebari said progress on the issue had been made and "new ideas and formulations of language" had been proposed that he hoped would satisfy both parties. Mr Zebari predicted there would be hectic politicking in Baghdad in the coming weeks as the details are fine-tuned. The foreign minister made the remarks in a joint press conference with John Negroponte, the US deputy secretary of state. Mr Negroponte, a former US ambassador to Iraq, said the country had changed significantly since his last visit, fewer than 12 months ago. Chiefly, he cited improvements in security. Simultaneously, Iraq's speaker of parliament, Mahmud al Mashhadani, arrived in Tehran to discuss details of the security deal with Iranian officials. Iran opposes the security talks, saying the presence of US forces in Iraq causes regional instability. As a reminder of the stakes, two car bombs exploded in a car park in front of the foreign ministry outside the US protected area shortly before the press conference in Baghdad. At least five Iraqis were injured. "I'm certainly encouraged by the advancements Iraq has made," Mr Negroponte told journalists, "in terms of security, economic revitalisation and political progress. The recent passage of an election law by parliament is noteworthy. Iraq is slowly but surely strengthening its democracy and deepening its roots countrywide." He also stressed that Iraq was taking an independent stand on the Sofa, and said Iraqi officials were taking part in the talks as equals. "Both countries are pursuing this issue from the point of view of their own national self interests." The agreement has been highly contested. The United States was forced to make concessions after the Maliki government insisted the deal include plans for a provisional withdrawal of US combat troops by 2011, something the United States had opposed. Even that was not enough for Iraqi opposition groups, however. Some called for a firm withdrawal timeline; others insisted that only an immediate pullout was acceptable. "The Iraqi government was installed by US occupation forces so all of these negotiations are a farce," said Abu Mohammad, a senior member of the Iraqi Baath Party and the National and Islamic Front in Iraq. Both are insurgent groups and continue to stage attacks against the US military. "The Americans are negotiating with themselves," Abu Mohammad said in an interview. He asked not to be identified by his real name. "No country with 100,000 foreign troops on its soil is a sovereign state and there can be no fair negotiations with the Americans until they have withdrawn." The Sadr political bloc, a powerful Shiite grouping with 30 seats in the Iraqi parliament, has also been hostile to the proposed deal. Aql Abdol-Hossein, head of the group's parliamentary wing, said Mr Negroponte's visit to Iraq was designed to put officials under pressure to approve unfair terms. He said the plans would push Iraq towards a "tunnel of darkness". The Iraqi government has also come under strong pressure from neighbouring Iran not to enter into a security agreement with the United States. [e-mail]