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Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control - Middle ...

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Saved by 3 people (0 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-06-05


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But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated.

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on 2008-06-05 by liveinfreedom

What a pile of CRAP the damned politicians have brought into the Iraq liberation led by America. This bullcrap of making promises that drive America's efforts to bring peace to the world is unconscionable.

perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

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The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal.

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Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

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The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now.

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It is a terrible breach of our sovereignty," said one Iraqi politician, adding that if the security deal was signed it would delegitimise the government in Baghdad which will be seen as an American pawn.

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Washington also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft and the right to pursue its "war on terror" in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without consultation.

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Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful and usually moderate Iranian leader, said yesterday that such a deal would create "a permanent occupation". He added: "The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves of the Americans."

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Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is believed to be personally opposed to the terms of the new pact but feels his coalition government cannot stay in power without US backing.

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Although Iraqi ministers have said they will reject any agreement limiting Iraqi sovereignty, political observers in Baghdad suspect they will sign in the end and simply want to establish their credentials as defenders of Iraqi independence by a show of defiance now.

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Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his followers to demonstrate every Friday against the impending agreement on the grounds that it compromises Iraqi independence.

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The Iraqi government wants to delay the actual signing of the agreement but the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney has been trying to force it through. The US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has spent weeks trying to secure the accord.

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But the Kurds, who make up a fifth of the population, will probably favour a continuing American presence,

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as will Sunni Arab political leaders who want US forces to dilute the power of the Shia.

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The Sunni Arab community, which has broadly supported a guerrilla war against US occupation, is likely to be split.

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on 2008-06-05 by liveinfreedom

WOW! the Iraqis sure have some deliberation to engage in with these critical American agreement elements needed to protect and to unhinder America's fight on terrorism created by complex political processes.