US won't take no for an answer

Aug.23, 2008

US won't take no for an answer

The US is engaged in a frantic effort to convince the Iraqi government to accept an agreement governing the conduct of US forces in Iraq that will be needed when the UN mandate for U.S. military operations in Iraq expires at the end of this year. That was the mission of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday and held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki.
However, Rice did not seem to have made any headway. An Iraqi spokesman described the one-on-one meeting between Rice and Maliki as "deep and direct," but added that only time will tell if a compromise can be reached.
It appears that mutual trust between the US and Iraqi government is diminishing fast after Maliki refused to budge from his demand that the US announce a strictt timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. He also insisted that US troops must be subject to Iraqi law when they're outside their bases.
The Rice trip and the Iraqi assessment of her talks with Maliki indicate that the two sides remain wide apart on the issue. That belies the claim by Iraqi and American officials they were on the brink of a security agreement.
According to officials, Maliki had demanded that US combat forces leave his country by 2010, but the agreement includes only a vague goal of having combat troops out by 2011 if conditions permit.
Again the ambiguity of such assertions by US officials indicate that Washington continues to entertain hopes that Iraq could be persuaded to sign an agreement that would allow the US to maintain permanent military presence in the country.
Maliki and other Iraqi politicians seem to have seen through the US approach. There was no ambiguity that they want the US out and are using tough words to press the demand..
"The Iraqi government wants as a sovereign country to be the master of the law in Iraq," according to Ali Al Adeeb, a Shiite MP from Maliki's Dawa party. "There needs to be a strict timetable, otherwise these forces will stay forever. Not having a timetable means they will never leave."