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Baghdad: In the face of strong opposition from the majority of Iraqi parties, the United States has watered down its demands in the controversial security agreement the Bush administration hopes to sign with Baghdad this year, officials told Gulf News.
A second draft of the planned Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) has been presented to Iraq negotiators, in which some earlier demands, deemed unacceptable by Iraqis, were dropped, the officials said.
The Bush administration seeks the signing of the pact by 31 July, to replace the United Nations mandate, which expires on 31 December, and which provides an international legal framework to the presence of the US-led coalition forces in occupied Iraq.
One of the controversial articles, which was dropped following a protest by the Nouri Al Maliki government, is the right for the American forces to launch attacks with a pre-approval of Iraqi authorities.
"The Americans informed the Iraqi side that they are prepared to accept the idea of seeking permission of the Iraqi government before mobilising troops inside the country," Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish leader close to Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, told Gulf News in an interview.
However, he said: "These forces will keep the right to detain any Iraqi suspected of involvement with terror activities but on the condition of subjecting those detainees to the Iraqi justice system."
Another watered down demand is granting immunity to US troops and members of the controversial security contracting companies.
"The Americans accepted [the right to] a limited immunity, given only to combat troops. This will not include elements of the security firms," Othman said.
He said the Americans, meanwhile, presented two types of agreements; the first is a political and economical agreement framework, to be signed next July and the second is a security agreement framework which would be signed by the end of the year.
The Kurdish leader accused the Americans of applying pressure on the Iraqi side to sign the agreements.
Meanwhile, Omar Abdul Sattar, a leader of the Sunni Islamic Party (headed by Vice President Tariq Al Hashimi), told Gulf News that the Americans have also changed their position regarding the long term strategic pact, to bypass the US Congress, which some say will not approve an indefinite framework.
"They are now offering a new security agreement framework to be signed by President George Bush and not ratified by the Congress, but the framework will be non-binding for the next American administration," he said.
Abdul Sattar pointed out that Iraqi factions in power have agreed that any agreement framework with Americans should respect Iraq's sovereignty and be transparent. "There should be no hidden items in such strategic agreements."
He also said "sharp differences" among the Iraqi parties on some details concerning the number of American forces, the planned military bases and the troops movement. "Some Iraqi leaders don’t oppose the presence of American bases in Iraq and others oppose that," he said.
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