Iraq cabinet votes to approve US troops deal

THE IRAQI cabinet yesterday approved an agreement authorising the US troop presence in Iraq for another three years after the UN mandate expires at the end of this year, writes Michael Jansen 

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that 27 of 29 ministers present at the meeting voted for the pact, which has been debated since January. "We have always said this is not a perfect solution . . . but it is a measure forced by circumstances and necessity."

Without an agreement, US forces would be compelled to halt operations after December 31st and to remain in bases.

"We welcome the cabinet's approval. This is an important and positive step," said a spokesperson for the US embassy in Baghdad.

The positions of the eight absent ministers are unclear.

The text is due to be presented to the 275-member parliament, which is likely to vote before November 24th, when the assembly will break for the feast at the end of the Hajj pilgrimage.

The status of forces agreement places US forces under Iraqi government authority, transfers control of airspace to Iraq in January, requires US forces to leave urban areas by June, hand over bases to Iraq by the end of 2009 and depart by January 1st, 2012.

US forces will be allowed to raid Iraqi homes and detain Iraqis only with a judge's warrant and government permission. The 16,400 Iraqi prisoners in US facilities will be handed over to the Iraqi government. US troops will be prosecuted under Iraqi law if they commit serious crimes while off base and off duty. Iraq may monitor cargo brought into the country by the US, which will be denied the use of Iraqi territory as a base for attacks on neighbouring states.

On Saturday, Iraq's senior Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, indicated that he would not reject the agreement if it was adopted by a clear parliamentary majority.

However, other revered Shia clerics, Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah, Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, mentor of Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is closely tied to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, oppose the agreement.

Mr Maliki last week accepted the amended text, which enjoys the support of his Dawa party, with 15 seats in the assembly, and of the Kurdish bloc, with 53 seats. The SIIC, with 30 seats, has been considering its position.

The 40-member Sunni Tawafiq bloc, which called for a referendum, remains undecided, and the Sunni vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi, could veto the pact when it is submitted to the three-man presidency council.

The most vociferous critic of the pact, radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc has 32 seats, has repeated his call for "the occupier to leave our land without retaining bases or signing agreements". He has threatened to fight US forces if they stay on.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, yesterday, killing 15 people, and five people died in two separate explosions in Baghdad.