US Troops Leaving Iraqi Cities

[jmm99]

Didn't really think that this thing (or things, if there are two agreements) would go through. But, looks like reality may be something akin to what was being said by unnamed sources a couple of weeks ago.

Iraqi parliament debates security pact
Iraqi parliament gears up for vote on US security pact; Iranian official praises Iraqi Cabinet
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
AP News
Nov 17, 2008 11:39 EST

Iraqi lawmakers Monday began debate over a pact with the United States that will allow U.S. forces to remain for three more years, while an Iranian official close to that country's leadership praised the Iraqi Cabinet for approving the deal.

The comments from Iran's judiciary chief marked the first time that the deal has met with clear-cut approval in neighboring Iran. Meanwhile, Syria, target of a deadly cross-border raid by U.S. forces in recent weeks, criticized the deal as virtual surrender to America.

More than two-thirds of the 275-seat legislature attended Monday's session, raising confidence that parliament will be able to muster a quorum for the Nov. 24 vote. The session ended after the agreement's text was read to lawmakers, the first step to adopt legislation.

Lawmakers are expected to meet again on Tuesday. ...
.....
Senior al-Maliki aides said the deal's chances also were helped by Washington's favorable response to two changes that he requested last week.

One removed ambiguous language that could have allowed U.S. forces not to adhere to a June 30 deadline for their withdrawal from cities to outlying bases, and another that prohibited raiding Iraqi homes during routine security sweeps without a court order. ....

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=456693

and, another piece in the puzzle falling into place:

Iran's judiciary chief lauds US-Iraqi pact
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press
2008-11-17 09:23 PM

A top Iranian official on Monday lauded the U.S-Iraqi security deal for the first time, saying the Iraqi government acted "very well" in approving the deal that allows American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years.

The remark by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi was the first sign of approval from Iran of the controversial deal that has long been lambasted by Tehran, where extremists within the hardline camp oppose it and many claim it would turn Iraq into a U.S. colony....
.....
The Web site of Iran's state television on Monday quoted Shahroudi as saying he hoped the U.S. will withdraw troops from Iraq within the time specified in the deal.

"The Iraqi government has done very well regarding this (security pact)," Shahroudi said. "We hope the outcome of (the deal) will be in favor of Islam and Iraqi sovereignty."

Shahroudi is very close to Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his comments reflect thinking of conservatives within the ruling system, but not all hard-liners or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ....

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_....php?id=790754

Ahmadinejad is not relevant here.

[jmm99]

This event may be coincidental; but it may be another little piece in the puzzle.

From The Times
November 19, 2008
Britain re-establishes high-level intelligence links with Syria
Richard Beeston, Catherine Philp and Oliver August

Britain re-established high-level intelligence links with the Syrian authorities as David Miliband made his landmark visit to Damascus yesterday, according to senior Syrian officials.

The move, first raised earlier this year at a meeting in New York between the Foreign Secretary and his Syrian counterpart, Walid Moualem, was a key objective of the Syrian visit. The newly revived intelligence relationship could be hugely beneficial to Britain. Syria is known to have one of the best intelligence-gathering systems in the Middle East, in particular in tracking the movements of Islamic extremists into Iraq and around the region. .....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5181164.ece

[jmm99]

Iraq's parliament adjourned until tomorrow because of a Sadrist uproar. So ....

US will withdraw troops if Iraq does not sign security deal (1st Lead)
Middle East News
Nov 19, 2008, 11:09 GMT

Baghdad - The US will withdraw its troops from Iraq if the security pact between the two governments is not signed, Iraqi media quoted a senior United States official as saying Wednesday.

'The United States will withdraw its forces from Iraq and refuse to approve an extension of the UN Security Council mandate if the treaty is not signed,' David Satterfield, senior advisor to the US secretary of state and the country's Iraq coordinator, told the semi- official al-Sabah newspaper.

Satterfield met with Iraqi groups opposing the so-called Status of Forces Agreement to try to persuade them to support it, the newspaper reported.....

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/ne...deal__1st_Lead

[jmm99]

Four articles that approach the Iraq SOFA from different angles.

Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Why the U.S. blinked on its troop agreement with Iraq

By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Although the Pentagon officially has welcomed the new accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, senior military officials are privately criticizing President Bush for giving Iraq more control over U.S. military operations for the next three years than the U.S. had ever contemplated.

Officials said U.S. negotiators had failed to understand how the two countries' political timetables would force the U.S. to make major concessions that relinquish much of the control over U.S. forces in Iraq. They said President Bush gave in to Iraqi demands to avoid leaving the decisions to his successor, Barack Obama.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/56182.html

US-Iraq security pact may be in violation, Congress is told
By Jenny Paul
Globe Correspondent / November 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - Passage of the US-Iraq security pact under the terms both countries' leaders have advocated could violate the constitutions of both countries, specialists told a congressional subcommittee yesterday.

They instead pressed for an extension of the United Nations mandate authorizing US troop involvement in Iraq, which expires Dec. 31.

American constitutional law scholar Oona Hathaway said she believes the Constitution requires Congress to also approve the agreement. The Bush administration has labeled the pact a "status of forces agreement," which can be implemented without congressional approval.

But Hathaway said the US-Iraqi pact is more comprehensive than previous agreements because it allows US troops to engage in military operations and specifies timetables for military withdrawal.

"These are unprecedented in a standard status of forces agreement, have never been part of a standard status of forces agreement, and extend in my view far beyond what the president can do without obtaining congressional approval," said Hathaway, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Law.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...gress_is_told/

US contractors lose immunity in Iraq security deal
Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 20, 6:22 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Thousands of contractors, both private Americans and non-Iraqi foreigners working in key roles for the United States in Iraq, will lose immunity and be subject to Iraqi law under new security arrangements, Bush administration officials say.

Pentagon and State Department officials notified companies that provide contract employees, like Blackwater Worldwide, Dyncorp International, Triple Canopy and KBR, of the changes on Thursday as the Iraqi parliament continues contentious debate on a security deal that will govern the presence of American forces in Iraq after January.

That so-called Status of Forces, or SOFA, agreement, which gives the Iraqi government only limited jurisdiction over U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians, excludes Defense Department contractors, two officials said.

The officials spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity after giving the same information to representatives of 172 invited contracting companies in two separate meetings earlier Thursday in Washington.

"Contractors and grantees can no longer expect that they will enjoy the wide range of immunity from Iraqi law that has been in effect since 2003," a State Department official said, reading from the text of a statement presented to the contractors.

Iraq will have "the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over" such workers, who are employed in various support roles for the U.S. military, including food service, transportation and sanitation, they said.

The agreement does not mention State Department contractors, who mainly provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq, but their immunity is expected to be revoked by the Iraqi government after the agreement takes effect pending Iraqi parliamentary approval, the officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081120/...ty_contractors

Iraq parliament engulfed in protests over US pact
In second stormy day in parliament, Iraqi lawmakers go through Iraqi-US security pact
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
AP News
Nov 20, 2008 06:34 EST

As opposition lawmakers shouted and pounded their desks in protest, Iraq's parliament on Thursday resumed deliberating a proposed security agreement with the United States that would allow American forces to stay there three more years.

The parliament completed a second reading of the proposal, the last step prior to the opening of debate on the security pact ahead of the Nov. 24 vote.

Lawmakers loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr sought to disrupt Thursday's reading as they did the previous day, when they scuffled with security guards after one of them aggressively approached the bench while a lawmaker from the ruling Shiite coalition was reading the text aloud.

On Thursday, the Sadrists attempted to drown out the voice of the lawmaker reading it aloud. Shouting matches later ensued, with Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani barely able to control the chaos in the 275-seat chamber.

But unlike Wednesday, there were no scuffles among lawmakers and orderly proceedings continued.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=460485

-------------------------------
All of this may dissolve into a farce (more of a farce ?); but, something has to be in place by 31 Dec.

[Ken White]

...something has to be in place by 31 Dec.

Serious question.

[jmm99]

Now the serious answer.

Our present legal basis for military action in Iraq is a UN resolution, summarized in the Operational Law Handbook 2007 (p.1-3):

g. UN Security Council Resolution 1511 (2003) authorized “a multinational force under unified command to take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq.”

That resolution (which put the US in command) has been renewed, as stated in Pres. Bush's War Powers Act Report of 13 Jun 2008:

The U.N. Security Council authorized a Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq under unified command in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1511 of October 16, 2003, and reaffirmed its authorization in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546 of June 8, 2004, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1637 of November 8, 2005, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1723 of November 28, 2006, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1790 of December 18, 2007, set to expire on December 31, 2008.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_rpt/warpowers.html

Without renewal of the UN mandate, or ratification of the SOFA, US forces would have to be confined to bases with limited rights of self-defense.

-------------------------------------------
The legal basis for OIF was different. As summarized in the Operational Law Handbook (p. 1-3):

2. OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

a. In the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, U.S. diplomats worked feverishly to obtain UN Security Council support for a new Resolution explicitly authorizing the use of military force. When these diplomatic efforts failed, many pundits opined that, as a result, the U.S. lacked a legitimate basis for using force against Iraq.

The Bush Administration countered that authority existed under previous Security Council resolutions. Looking back to November 1990, the Security Council had passed Resolution 678, which:

Authorize[d] Member States co-operating with the government of Kuwait, unless Iraq on or before 15 January 1991 fully implements, as set forth in paragraph 1 above, the above-mentioned resolutions, to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 (1990) and all subsequent relevant resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area;

b. Significantly, UNSCR 678 authorized the use of force not only to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait (implementing Resolution 660), but also “to restore international peace and security in the area.” In an attempt to bring this goal of peace and security in the northern Arabian Gulf region to fruition, the Security Council passed UNSCR 687, which formalized the cease-fire between coalition and Iraqi forces.

As a consequence, UNSCR 687 placed certain requirements on the government of Iraq, including:

(1) Iraq shall unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under international supervision, of: all chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities related thereto; and

(2) Iraq shall unconditionally agree not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapon-usable material or any subsystems or components or any research, development, support or manufacturing facilities related to the above.

c. The U.S. position is that UNSCR 687 never terminated the authorization to use force contained in UNSCR 678. It merely suspended it with a cease-fire, conditioned upon Iraq’s acceptance of and compliance with the terms contained in the document and discussed above. While the Government of Iraq accepted the terms, compliance was never achieved.

The Security Council recognized this situation in November 2002 with the adoption of UNSCR 1441, which provided in part that “Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations under relevant resolutions, including Resolution 687 (1991)….”

It was the position of the U.S. Government that, since Iraq remained in material breach of UNSCR 687, the cease-fire contained therein was null and void, and the authorization to use “all necessary means” to return peace and stability to the region (based on UNSCR 678) remained in effect. Under this rationale, a new Security Council resolution again authorizing “all necessary means” was politically advisable, yet legally unnecessary.

However, the U.S. argument is not without its critics.

I am not one of the critics - in short, I argue that Gulf II was simply a legal continuation of Gulf I. Given the military actions and economic sanctions taken between the two "Gulfs", that was also factually true.

But, when we decided to get into "nation building" big time - new constitution, new governmental structure, etc., the justification for our initial military action went by the boards ("Old Iraq", the culprit, ceased to exist).

Hence, the need for UN Res. 1511 and its renewals, which recognize the independent state of Iraq, to justify a continued US military presence.

[Ken White]

lacking some of the minutia. I understand that the SOFA is not a done deal for several reasons and why that is so even though Sistani yesterday told the Sadrists to chill. I am broadly conversant with the difference between and occupier and a 'guest' in a sovereign nation; with the fact that Al Maliki and the Presidents can approve the, in the absence of a SOFA, certainly desirable UN extension -- and with the fact that all that is very nice and we do really want to be all legal and aboveboard -- well, legal, anyway -- here.

I'm also aware that harsh reality sometimes makes the law not only difficult but impossible to follow...

We'll see.

Thank you for taking the time to answer and for the added detail.