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Iraq wants say on when U.S. troops should leave
Iraq's new interim government demanded authority from the UN Security Council to decide on the future presence of US-led forces and other security issues, signalling apparent differences with Washington. But Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday his government wanted US-led forces to stay to help with security when he addressed the Security Council on a US-British draft resolution on the planned US handover on June 30. "The transitional Iraqi government...must have a say in the future presence of these forces and we urge this to be reflected in the new resolution," said Zebari, adding the new government should have "authority over security matters". The question of who has the final say over any action taken by US-led forces after June 30 has become a burning issue for all parties involved in the Security Council debate. Washington and the Iraqis have already sparred over it. France and Russia, veto-wielding members of the 15-nation council, have forced the United States and Britain to come up with a second draft of the resolution and say they are still not happy. Washington made clear again the sovereignty it is offering on June 30 will be subject to 138,000 American soldiers having the last word on any military action they deem essential. "There could be a situation where we have to act and there may be a disagreement and we have to act to protect ourselves or to accomplish a mission," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview with Middle East Broadcasting. BLAIR CONFIDENT British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US President George W. Bush's closest ally on Iraq, said he believed any differences could be overcome and that a resolution would be passed soon. "I am reasonably optimistic that it will be done in a pretty short space of time," Blair told reporters in London. US and British officials would like a vote next week. In Iraq, a rebel cleric agreed to new steps on Friday for his militia to stop fighting, and the top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a vote of confidence in the new interim government. The developments were fillips for Washington and the interim government, despite the wrangling at the Security Council. Shi'ite politicians said after hours of talks that rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had agreed to fresh measures to shore up a shaky truce and end weeks of fighting in Iraq's holy Shi'ite cities with US-led forces. They said Sadr had agreed to withdraw his Mehdi Army fighters from the southern city of Najaf within two days as long as US forces also withdrew, and had proposed neutral monitors. Sadr announced last week he would withdraw his militiamen from Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa, and in return the US military said it would suspend offensive operations. But the truce has failed to take hold and there have been frequent skirmishes. On Thursday, gunfire and explosions erupted in Najaf, some 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad. Shopkeepers hurriedly closed up and women and children fled from the area. FIGHTING AT CEMETERY Witnesses said the fighting began when two US tanks advanced towards Najaf's cemetery, where some militiamen were still dug in. At least five Iraqis were killed in clashes in Kufa, hospital sources said. Iraq's top Shi'ite religious leaders have been highly critical of Sadr for fighting in holy cities, but have also said the US military response was heavy handed. Sistani, who holds great sway over many of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, said the interim government lacked "electoral legitimacy" but was a step in the right direction and would succeed if specific goals were met. "The hope is that this government will prove its worthiness and integrity and its firm readiness to perform the mammoth tasks it is burdened with," said Sistani, urging it to erase the marks of occupation and secure full sovereignty from the UN Sistani, whose Shi'ite community was oppressed by Saddam Hussein's secular Sunni-dominated administration, scuppered an initial plan for handing power to Iraqis and brought forward elections, at which Shi'ites should benefit from their majority. A UN resolution must hand Iraq sovereignty in all "political, economic, military and security" issues, he said. Two US Marines were sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to charges of abusing an Iraqi inmate who threw rubbish by shocking him with 110 volts of electricity at a jail south of Baghdad in April. The Marine Corps said one of the soldiers was sentenced to one year in jail and the other to eight months, in the latest case in the prisoner abuse scandal that damaged Washington's image in Iraq when it came to light more than a month ago. |
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