Iraqi newspaper:

Negotiations on Iraqi-US security agreement halted
after objections to "final" US draft

Iraqi newspaper "Al-Mada" has reported today (Thursday 4 -9-2008) that negotiations with the US about the security agreement halted about a week ago because the American side had presented a draft which it considered to be final, but it contained points that were rejected by the Iraqi negotiators.

Al-Mada's report is based on information revealed by Ali al-Adeeb, a member of parliament from the United Iraqi Alliance. He described the contentious points as "fundamental knots", pointing out that the agreement cannot be passed in the parliament if they continue to exist. He declined to reveal further details about these points.

Al-Adeeb said that the US Secretary of State, Condoliza Rice, responded to some of the objections that had been made by the Iraqi side, but the issue of immunity for American soldiers and contractors outside military operations has remained unresolved. He added that the Iraqi negotiator is still waiting for the response of the American side after consultations to be conducted by the US Secretary of State with American officials.

Al-Adeeb said that the American side had asked for a period of 10 days (that will end in two days) in order to respond to the Iraqi objections, which he described as "Iraqi questions", to key parts of the American draft.


Source: http://www.almadapaper.com/