This vote is set to occur within hours in Iraq.
While everyone is distracted with Obama's press conferences, turkey pardons and the Indian terrorist attacks, Bush is end-running around Congress and the American public in his zeal to ink his Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq, which would hog tie Barack Obama in Iraq for three more years.
Bush has deliberately kept Congress and the American public and media in the dark about the details of this agreement. Sounds like he is threatening the Iraqis with *signing statements*, if they do not give Bush what he wants.
Juan Cole
writes:
McClatchy reports that the Bush administration had deliberately not released the official English version of the security agreement it is negotiating with Iraq, fearing that extensive public debate on it in the US press might throw up criticisms that would be taken up by Iraqi parliamentarians, causing it to be rejected.
It is quite remarkable that this agreement, on which the fate of tens of thousands of American troops depends, has not been officially available to the American public or to Congress!
The McClatchy story makes it clear that the exact wording of some articles appears to have continued to be negotiated right up until the moment, though even agreement on wording has not produced agreement on the meaning of the words. (Iraqis should have been warned about Bush's 'signing statements,' in which he attempts to reverse the intent of the laws that Congress passes and he signs, just by appending a commentary in Bushspeak.)
McClatchy adds:
'The Bush administration has adopted a much looser interpretation than the Iraqi government of several key provisions of the pending U.S.-Iraq security agreement, U.S. officials said Tuesday — just hours before the Iraqi parliament was to hold its historic vote.These include a provision that bans the launch of attacks on other countries from Iraq, a requirement to notify the Iraqis in advance of U.S. military operations and the question of Iraqi legal jurisdiction over American troops and military contractors.'
In other words, the Pentagon will studiedly ignore the more important provisions of the agreement, if Bush has his way.
McClatchy got hold of copy of the official translation on Tuesday, posting it in pdf
here.
Key quotes from
McClatchy:
.....the administration, which had planned to release the official English language text last week, has instead designated it "sensitive but unclassified."
The White House National Security Council said it had held up the translation's release until the Iraqi parliament votes. "We plan to release it soon," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "We are waiting for the Iraqi political process to move further down the road."
A U.S. official, however, said the aim was also to head off any debate in the U.S. media. The administration fears that any discussion "may inadvertently throw this thing of the rails," said the official, who couldn't be named because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters.
And:
Among the areas of dispute are:
Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops or military contractors who kill Iraqis on operations. The agreement calls for Iraq to prosecute U.S. troops according to court procedures that have yet to be worked out. Those negotiations, administration officials have argued, could take three years, by which time the U.S. will have withdrawn from Iraq under the terms of the agreement. In the interim, U.S. troops will remain under the jurisdiction of America's Uniform Code of Military Justice.
A provision that bars the U.S. from launching military operations into neighboring countries from Iraqi territory. Administration officials argue they could circumvent that in some cases, such as pursuing groups that launch strikes on U.S. targets from Syria or Iran, by citing another provision that allows each party to retain the right of self-defense. One official expressed concern that "if Iran gets wind that we think there's a loophole there," Tehran might renew its opposition to the agreement.
A provision that appears to require the U.S. to notify Iraqi officials in advance of any planned military operations and to seek Iraqi approval for them, which some U.S. military officials find especially troubling, although Robert Gates, the secretary of defense, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, and Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, all have endorsed it.
Stand strong, Iraqis. Please do not give George W. Bush what he wants.
This madman will be pushed out of power in 55 days. The American people will drive him out.
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