U.S. Throws Down Gauntlet on Iraq Agreement
27 October 2008 9:15 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations
and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government
doesn’t agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed
United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top
Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday.In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities
that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ “everything”
_ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president.
“I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services.”
…
The status of forces agreement is in limbo, because Maliki extended opportunities to add amendments to the Dawa party and the
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, with a deadline, which neither met. Part of
what’s in the mix is that the U.S. provides security for Iraq’s main borders,
its oil exports and shipping through the Persian Gulf, among other things. On
top of this is pressure from Iran to reject the new agreement outright. The
Iraqis can ask the U.N. for an extension to the Jan. 1 deadline as another recourse
to the new agreement. Yeah, that’ll happen.
