October 07, 2011
BRUSSELS: Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday any US forces that remain in Iraq beyond a year-end deadline would require legal “immunity,” despite calls from Iraqi leaders to end the protection.
Asked about a statement from leaders of Iraq’s main political parties, Panetta said that “any kind of US presence demands that we protect and provide the appropriate immunity for our soldiers” if there is a post-2011 US mission.
The Pentagon chief’s comments, at a news conference in Brussels, exposed a potential sticking point over the legal status of American troops that could derail negotiations underway on a possible future US military force after the end of the year.
After a two-hour meeting hosted by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, leaders of the country’s main political blocs said they agreed on the need for training of Iraqi forces and the purchase military equipment, according to a statement issued by government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh.
“Immunity is the main disputed point. If we do not have agreement on the immunity, there will be no agreement on the number of trainers,” said Dabbagh.
But “the leaders agreed there is no need to give immunity for trainers.”
“The reason we don’t want to give them immunity is because of the mistakes made by the US troops since 2003 such as killings of civilians, arrests and raids,” said Izzat Al Shahbandar, the head of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law coalition.
Shahbander, however, indicated that Iraqis would be willing to give the Americans “partial immunity” but gave no indication as to what exactly that meant.
The statement made no mention of how many trainers would be required, for how long or for what specific needs.
About 43,500 US troops remain in Iraq, and all of them must withdraw by the end of the year under a bilateral security accord, which remains in force if no post-2011 deal is agreed.
American officials seemed to be scrambling on Wednesday to understand what exactly the Iraqi politicians, who excel at brinkmanship politics, really meant.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey “and others are working with Iraqi leaders today on specifically what they have in mind.”
Navy Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said that officials are reviewing the statement by Iraqi lawmakers “to make sure we have a complete understanding” of the Iraqi position.
He declined to go into detail on the US position, saying only: “We are going to make sure that our troops have the legal protections they need.”
Cleric shot at
Meanwhile, underscoring the sign of unabated violence in the country gunmen on Thursday wounded a representative of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric.
Sheikh Karim Al Khalidi was returning home from prayer in Al Qassim, south of Baghdad, officials said on Thursday.
Khalid, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al Sistani, was shot and seriously wounded in the centre of the town, which lies some 130 kilometres from the Iraqi capital, on Wednesday evening.
Sistani is Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric whose stature dwarfs that of any Shiite politician, including Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki.
“Unknown gunmen attacked Sheikh Karim Al Khalidi in Al Qassim,” said an official in Sistani’s office in the Shiite city of Najaf in south Iraq.
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