A proposed Iraqi-American security agreement will include permanent American bases in the country, and the right for the United States to strike, from within Iraqi territory, any country it considers a threat to its national security, Gulf News has learned.
It:
- grants the U.S. long-term rights to maintain over 50 military bases in their California-sized country
- allows the U.S. to strike any other country from within Iraqi territory without the permission of the Iraqi government
- allows the U.S. to conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting with the local government
- allows U.S. forces to arrest any Iraqi without consulting with Iraqi authorities
- extends to U.S. troops and contracters immunity from Iraqi law
- gives U.S. forces control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft.
- places the Iraqi Defense, Interior and National Security ministries under American supervision for ten years
- gives the U.S. responsibility for Iraqi armament contracts for ten years
The military source added, "According to this agreement, the American forces will keep permanent military bases on Iraqi territory, and these will include Al Asad Military base in the Baghdadi area close to the Syrian border, Balad military base in northern Baghdad close to Iran, Habbaniyah base close to the town of Fallujah and the Ali Bin Abi Talib military base in the southern province of Nasiriyah close to the Iranian border."
The sources confirmed that the American army is in the process of completing the building of the military facilities and runways for the permanent bases.
He added that the American air bases in Kirkuk and Mosul will be kept for no longer than three years. However, he said there were efforts by the Americans to include the Kirkuk base in the list of permanent bases.
The sources also said that a British brigade was expected to remain at the international airport in Basra for ten years as long as the American troops stayed in the permanent bases in Iraq.
The US is also holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.
US negotiators are using the existence of $20bn in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the US, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal, details of which were reported for the first time in this newspaper yesterday.
Iraq's foreign reserves are currently protected by a presidential order giving them immunity from judicial attachment but the US side in the talks has suggested that if the UN mandate, under which the money is held, lapses and is not replaced by the new agreement, then Iraq's funds would lose this immunity. The cost to Iraq of this happening would be the immediate loss of $20bn. The US is able to threaten Iraq with the loss of 40 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves because Iraq's independence is still limited by the legacy of UN sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in the 1990s. This means that Iraq is still considered a threat to international security and stability under Chapter Seven of the UN charter. The US negotiators say the price of Iraq escaping Chapter Seven is to sign up to a new "strategic alliance" with the United States.
The threat by the American side underlines the personal commitment of President George Bush to pushing the new pact through by 31 July. Although it is in reality a treaty between Iraq and the US, Mr Bush is describing it as an alliance so he does not have to submit it for approval to the US Senate.
Iraqi critics of the agreement say that it means Iraq will be a client state in which the US will keep more than 50 military bases. American forces will be able to carry out arrests of Iraqi citizens and conduct military campaigns without consultation with the Iraqi government. American soldiers and contractors will enjoy legal immunity.
The US had previously denied it wanted permanent bases in Iraq, but American negotiators argue that so long as there is an Iraqi perimeter fence, even if it is manned by only one Iraqi soldier, around a US installation, then Iraq and not the US is in charge.
The US has security agreements with many countries, but none are occupied by 151,000 US soldiers as is Iraq. The US is not even willing to tell the government in Baghdad what American forces are entering or leaving Iraq, apparently because it fears the government will inform the Iranians, said an Iraqi source.
The fact that Iraq's financial reserves, increasing rapidly because of the high price of oil, continue to be held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is another legacy of international sanctions against Saddam Hussein. Under the UN mandate, oil revenues must be placed in the Development Fund for Iraq which is in the bank.
The funds are under the control of the Iraqi government, though the US Treasury has strong influence on the form in which the reserves are held.
While, Al-Hashemi who wound up his five-day visit to Jordan on Monday said that "There is an Iraqi national consensus to reject the draft agreement" which is being discussed by Baghdad and Washington, DPA reported.
He was responding to questions about a draft agreement that was reportedly reached between the Iraqi government and the United States for regulating the US military presence in Iraq after 2008.
The Iraqi vice president's opposition to the pact comes as the proposed pact has been under fire by religious and political leaders in Iraq.
Iraq's most revered Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also objected to the security accord and reiterated that he would not allow Iraq to sign such a deal with "the US occupiers" as long as he was alive.
Iraqi anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the proposed pact was "against Iraqi national interests", calling on Iraqis to protest and demonstrate after every Friday prayers until the agreement is cancelled.
"Iraq will not accept any formula that undermines its sovereignty and runs counter to the Iraqi interests," al-Hashemi said in a speech to the Jordanian Society of Sciences and Culture in Amman on Monday.
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