Political leaders to discuss US withdrawal tomorrow

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Political leaders to discuss US withdrawal tomorrow
03/10/2011 12:35
Erbil, Oct. 3 (AKnews) - The heads of the political parties will meet tomorrow and continue their discussion if Iraq needs further U.S. military engagement in 2012, according to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Talabani said at a press conference that he just met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and exchanged opinions about a recent meeting of political leaders on that issue.

The debate about whether Iraq should stick to the plan for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, as laid out in the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) of 2008, has become more heated over the summer as the U.S. puts more pressure on Iraq to make a decision one way or the other.

There are fears that the extension of the stay could lead to an escalation of violence that would outweigh any benefit that the U.S. troops might provide. In April Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to mobilize his frozen Mahdi Army – a militia strictly loyal to Sadr, which was engaged in deadly clashes with the U.S. and Iraqi forces in southern provinces.

The Mahdi Army was stood down from military actions in 2007 by al-Sadr, as the movement put its efforts into engaging with the political system and entered electoral politics, but the threat to return to violent means has remained.

Some Kurdish politicians are in favour of an extension. There is a dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over the sovereignty of northern parts of Iraq. Under article 140 of the Iraqi constitution there should be a referendum to settle the issue, but this is running years behind schedule. This has led the politicians to call for troops to stay, arguing that an independent arbiter is needed to secure the completion of the program.

In an exclusive interview with AKnews, the head of Iraqi Army, Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari, said in May that Iraq is not ready to assume responsibility for its own security and that U.S. troops should remain until at least 2020.

He said homegrown forces were capable of dealing with the ongoing insurgency, but in doing so could not also defend their airspace and borders for which they relied on the Americans.

The insurgency in the country is not at the level it once was at the height of the troubles in 2006 and 2007, when suicide bombings were an almost daily occurrence, but recent months have seen an increase in targeted assassinations of government officials and military officers.

By Karzan Kanabi

LH/CU/AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/264897/