the 07/22/2008

Iraq denies PM backed Obama troop cut plan

16 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq on Sunday denied Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki had made remarks backing US Democratic presidentialcandidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw troops from the countryand demanding a quick pullout.

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Maliki in an interviewhad supported Obama's plan to withdraw most US troops from Iraqwithin 16 months if he took office next January.

This "would be the right timescale for withdrawal, allowing forminor adjustments," Maliki reportedly told the news magazine in theinterview to be published on Monday.

Der Spiegel also said that Maliki demanded that American forcesleave Iraq "as soon as possible."

"To date, the United States is struggling to agree on a concretedate for withdrawal because they view such a step as an admissionof defeat, which is not the case," Maliki was reported as saying.

But on Sunday Baghdad government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh deniedMaliki had made the remarks, saying they had been "misunderstoodand mistranslated and not conveyed accurately."

Dabbagh said that any statement by Maliki or member of Iraq'sgovernment "should not be understood as support for any USpresidential candidate."

In a speech in Washington on Wednesday, Obama said he wouldwithdraw most US forces from Iraq within 16 months starting inJanuary, 2009.

"We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that wouldremove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 -- twoyears from now, and more than seven years after the war began," hesaid.

Obama said a residual force would continue performing limitedmissions such as pursuing Al-Qaeda, protecting US service membersand training Iraqi forces.

The controversy comes at at time when Washington and Baghdad arenegotiating a highly sensitive security pact on the future ofAmerican forces in Iraq.

In recent weeks Maliki and other Shiite leaders in Iraq have beendemanding that the pact include a timetable for US militarywithdrawal.

US President George W. Bush has repeatedly denied offering anyspecific timetable to pull out the troops, but on Thursday he andMaliki agreed to set a "time horizon" for a withdrawal in the pact.

Sticking points in the pact negotiations include how many US baseswould remain in Iraq, whether American soldiers would enjoyimmunity from Iraqi laws, and whether they could detain Iraqis andlaunch operations without Iraqi authorisation.

A US official in Baghad close to the negotiating team saidWashington and Baghdad had "suspended" the originally envisagedsecurity pact called the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), andwere now looking at creating a short-term agreement that wouldaddress Iraqi concerns.

"The SOFA as we had in Japan or Germany has been suspended or putaside but not thrown away," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said the two sides are currently negotiating a "securityprotocol or operational protocol" that contains the key contents ofthe SOFA but would be for a "certain period of time."

"That does not mean we would not find a more detailed, moregeneral" agremeent later, he added.

Bush and Maliki had set a July 31 goal for an accord on thepresence of American forces in Iraq after 2008 when the current UNmandate expires.

The UN mandate is the legal basis for the presence of US-ledforeign forces in Iraq.

The US official said it was still possible that a deal would befinalised by end of the month.