We're getting OUT OF IRAQ!!!

[Lancer]

Iraq says U.S. agrees to pull troops by 2011 By Ahmed Rasheed
17 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080825/ts_nm/iraq_dc_2;_ylt=AuXYzBqItvroTPDXKQ3b0YAUewgF


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq and the United States have agreed that a planned security pact will require all U.S. troops to leave by the end of 2011, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday, while Washington said no final deal had been reached.

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"There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said in a speech to tribal leaders in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"Yes, there is major progress on the issue of the negotiations on the security deal," Maliki said.

The Iraqi government had proposed in bilateral talks that U.S. troops end patrols of Iraqi towns and villages by the middle of next year, and that U.S. combat troops leave Iraq by 2011, under a pact that will govern their presence after 2008.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said there had been a draft agreement but that it needed to "go through a number of levers in the Iraqi political system before we actually have an agreement from the Iraqi side."

"Until we have a deal, we don't have a deal," he said.

He declined to comment on the 2011 withdrawal date.

The administration of President George W. Bush has sought to avoid fixed timetables, but Maliki's Shi'ite-led government has been increasingly assertive in seeking assurances surrounding the exit of the approximately 144,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a visit to Baghdad last week that a deal was close, but not yet final.

The pact is needed to replace a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 which has formed the legal basis for the American troop presence ever since, but expires at the end of this year.

Iraqi officials say a draft agreement was completed last week and must now be circulated to political leaders for approval before it can be submitted to parliament next month.

SOVEREIGNTY

Maliki said no agreement would be signed that did not respect Iraqi sovereignty, and said any deal would need to include a "specific date, not an open one" for withdrawal.

"An open time limit is not acceptable in any security deal that governs the presence of the international forces," he said.

Maliki also said no foreigners would be given full legal immunity. Washington is seeking to avoid allowing its soldiers to be tried in Iraqi courts.

In many countries where the United States has bases, treaties allow the forces to be governed by U.S. military law rather than placed under local jurisdiction.

"We will not accept to put the lives of our sons on the line by guaranteeing absolute immunity for anybody, whether Iraqis or foreigners," Maliki said. "The sanctity of Iraqi blood should be respected."

Maliki also said an agreement had been reached that would prohibit U.S. military operations "without the approval of the Iraqi government and American forces."

But he said negotiations on the security pact continued on other sensitive issues. "Unless these can be revised, it will be difficult for this treaty to be signed," he said.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington; Writing by Missy Ryan

[Heraclitus]

"Unless the situation on the ground changes"

[Grandpa Troll]

So basically, we dont have a deal....

I hope it works out, but one never knows.....

[Lancer]

Why is it that Bush isn't tripping over himself to sign the freakin paper? Still, if the Iraq gov says goodbye, adious, gtf outa here, we gotta leave, right?

[Q Classic]

Yes. Through Iran.

[Lancer]

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Mrs Snuggles
Yes. Through Iran.

No, no, no, the troops are going straight to Afghanistan right across the Iraq-Afghanistan border.

[Lancer]

I thought we were going to reposition them for the upcoming invasion of Russia.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Lancer
I thought we were going to reposition them for the upcoming invasion of Russia.

This guy will kick your ass for Mother Russia!1!!!

Zombie-Cyborg Lenin FTW!

[Lancer]

Love the weapons on that Lenin Mech.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Lancer
Why is it that Bush isn't tripping over himself to sign the freakin paper? Still, if the Iraq gov says goodbye, adious, gtf outa here, we gotta leave, right?

Because he wanted dozens of permanent bases in Iraq, the freedom to launch attacks in Iraq whenever the U.S. wanted, and immunity for U.S. and Blackwater troops. He went 0 for 3.

Now, all we needed to do is to get the Sunni and Shia to kiss and make up, and all will be fine.

__________________
PS: That last sentence was sarcasm.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Heraclitus




This guy will kick your ass for Mother Russia!1!!!

Zombie-Cyborg Lenin FTW!

Where were you when I needed you?

[AAHZ]

AAHZ-Summary™ please, the OP is too long and hurts my brain.

[Zkribbler]

Summary:
The U.S. and Iraq have agreed that the U.S. will have all combat troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
There will be no granting of immunity to anyone for act committed while in Iraq.
Iraq says we have a deal. The U.S. is saying we don't have a deal because the Iraqis have yet to agree to it.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Lancer
Love the weapons on that Lenin Mech.

They even got to recycle Sputnik!

[Dr Strangelove]

Did John McCain pay them to say that?

[Agathon]

Because the world's women know that when American soldiers say they'll pull out, they really mean it.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by Comrade Snuggles


Where were you when I needed you?

Me or Nuclear Sputnik Lenin?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Lancer
while Washington said no final deal had been reached.

Ahem, did you miss this little bit?

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Theben


They even got to recycle Sputnik!

Oh yeah, good observation.

No MrFun, I did not. But how long do you think the American people are going to put up with spending billions occupying a country that wants us out? Funds for that would be cut to nothing.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Lancer

Oh yeah, good observation.

No MrFun, I did not. But how long do you think the American people are going to put up with spending billions occupying a country that wants us out? Funds for that would be cut to nothing.

Do you guys get to keep the oil fields or will you have time to pump them dry by then?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Richelieu


Do you guys get to keep the oil fields or will you have time to pump them dry by then?

The Iraqis control their own oil fields. That's why they're running an $80 billion surplus.

[Lancer]

I would much rather we were pumping the ungrateful sons of guns dry.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


The Iraqis control their own oil fields. That's why they're running an $80 billion surplus.

LIES!

[Lancer]

I think we should trade the Baltic States to Russia for Georgia, yeah T H A T ' S the answer.

[Zkribbler]

So what's worse:
(a) tax-and-spend Democrats,
(b) borrow-and-spend Republicans,
(c) pump-oil & let-the-Americas-pay Iraqis?

[Lancer]

The Dems of course. The Repugs put the debt onto our kids of which I have none.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Lancer
I think we should trade the Baltic States to Russia for Georgia, yeah T H A T ' S the answer.

Still mad at us for that group game in Athens olympics?

[OzzyKP]

I think the Bush folks are afraid that Obama will pull the troops out early, so want to take that decision away from him and put the withdrawal later.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
I think the Bush folks are afraid that Obama will pull the troops out early, so want to take that decision away from him and put the withdrawal later.

Bingo. Now they have a deadline 36 months out, rather than Obama's proposed 18 months.

BTW: If the Bush Administration didn't agree with the Iraqi's, the U.N. resolution for us to remain in Iraq would have expired in December.