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As talks lag, Iraq ponders ordering U.S. troops out
BY LEILA FADEL and MIKE THARP • MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS • June 14, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki raised the possibility Friday that his country won't sign a status of forces agreement with the United States and that it will ask U.S. troops to go home when their United Nations mandate to be in Iraq expires at the end of the year.
Al-Maliki's comment came after weeks of complaints from Shi'ite Muslim lawmakers that U.S. proposals for a continued troop presence would infringe on Iraq's sovereignty.
"Iraq has another option that it may use," al-Maliki said during a visit to Amman, Jordan. "The Iraqi government, if it wants, has the right to demand that the UN terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil."
Earlier, al-Maliki said talks with the United States on a status of forces agreement "reached an impasse" after U.S. negotiators presented a draft that would have given the United States access to 58 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops and private contractors.
The Iraqis rejected those demands, and U.S. diplomats have submitted a second draft, which Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said included several concessions.
Among them would be allowing Iraq to prosecute contractors for violations of Iraqi law and a requirement that U.S. forces turn over to Iraqi authorities any Iraqis the Americans detain.
Salih said the government wants to reach an agreement but that Iraq wouldn't be pressured into accepting terms that compromised its rights.
"Our American allies need to understand and realize that this agreement must be respectful of Iraqi sovereignty," Salih said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/NEWS07/806140394/1009