US Troop Withdrawal Would Be Complete In Three Years Under New Plan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Says

In an interview with The Times of London, Iraq's Foreign Minister said that a new draft agreement with the United States would have troops out of the country in three years, with withdrawals beginning next summer.

In one of the most detailed insights yet into the content of the deal, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, has also told The Times that the US military would be barred from unilaterally mounting attacks inside Iraq from next year.

In addition, the power of arrest for US soldiers would be curbed by the need to hand over any detainee to a new, US-Iraqi committee. Troops would require the green light from this joint command before conducting any operation.

The Pentagon refused to comment last night on the proposals laid out in the draft agreement between Baghdad and Washington that covers the status of US forces beyond 2008. Britain will strike its own deal with Iraq but Gordon Brown hopes to withdraw most British troops from Iraq by next summer, reducing the number of soldiers from 4,100 to "a few hundred" by then.

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Comments

[provgrays]

This is meaningless.

Bush will not take orders from the country he destroyed and a limitless war is what he planned on to keep enriching all of his buddies and companies like Enron and Blackwater.

Did you read yesterday that two thirds of corporations in America pay no taxes? Now, if you had a sweet deal like that and two wars churning out the profits, would you allow your bought and sold puppets in Washington to change anything?

[OilWarsDotCom]

If you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. You can be sure thousands of US, British and French troops will remain to protect the prize - 115 billion bbls of crude and 112 trillion cu ft of natural gas - This booty will soon be divided up between Exxon, Cheveron, BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell - The US has constructed a $600 million dollar plus embasy and has billions invested in other military installations. The US intends to take the world by military force. Iraq, Afghanistan is just the start - Iran next - Russian republics and so forth

[leduck]

i kind of agree...,
but i don't anyone except the craziest neocons
want to go anywhere near former russian republics

that would be game over
suicidal
we can't win a war with russia and everyone should know why

i'll give a hint, they are dtonated by nuclear bombs which in turn are detonated by tnt
and they come in the megaton range

[OilWarsDotCom]

The CIA and Special Ops forces have been antagonizing the Russian Republics for years. The US has a large stock of military hardware located in Azerbaijan for an attack on Iran. The CIA, Special Ops and Israeli forces (Israel is the 51st state of the United States, but no one has told you yet) had been stirring up trouble in Georgia as well. They were training troops. The goal of the Neocon is to take Russia - They are chewing at its boarders. The USA is the next Nazi Germany, in case you haven't noticed. Do a little "Googling" and you will see the CIA is in many places stirring up s_it.

[Hirnlego]

Hear hear. I mean, even the neoconservative own blueprints speak of a more permanent presence in the middle-east.

They have now "secured" Iraq to themselves, and all this talk about the "threat" from Iran is nothing but war propaganda to sell it to the ignorant masses who believe they would be bombing Iran to stop a nuclear weapons program or fighting for their freedom.

[returnofthejedi]

My first question is, who from the American side is negotiating that deal? My next question is why have we not been greeted as liberators as we have been told we would be?

[Ammobob]

First question, DUH.......­....second question, DUH DUH!

[returnofthejedi]

Before attempting to be a troll, why don't you try answering the question?
Is it because you like alot of other people already know what im getting at?
You support warmongerers and have the nerve to come here antagonizing people because they choose be human instead of idiotic robots. One major difference between robots and humans is that a robot has no idea what is hazardous to them but a human does.

[JohnShank]

I think maybe, just MAYBE...th­e Bush people lied to us. I know, you're shocked! I'll give you a second to collect yourself. It turns out that the Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Pearl and the rest, might be criminals! You're SHOCKED again!

Oh yeah, and F*** Toby Keith!

[returnofthejedi]

No not at all shocked! and Toby Kieth is just a minnow in a great big lake!

[jay1975]

"My next question is why have we not been greeted as liberators as we have been told we would be?" In 2003 we were. The people lined the streets as we rolled up to Baghdad cheering and waving. It was actually pretty amazing, but as we stayed longer and longer, the people stopped waving and started to get real sick of us. We have over stayed our welcome.

[Unrepentant]

This could have a huge affect on the American economy. Many don' t understand the profound significance of the economic hardship to this country that is a direct result of the war on Iraq. The relationship between the devastating devaluation of the US$ and the rise in oil prices is an example. Quite literally, we are being outbid for oil on the world commodities market because the value of the dollar against foreign currencies has dropped about 50%!

Why has the dollar dropped in value? Because the Bush administration has borrowed so much money to pay for this insane war that investors (foreign banks and treasuries) refuse to buy our debt. We can't give away dollars because no investor wants to loose money by investing in our currency. Despite this, the FED can't raise interest rates or they will accelerate inflation! So we are in a situation where investors can buy US debt for a return of about 3% while inflation is about 5.6%. So, I am sure that you can see that by investing in US$ (i.e., loaning the US money) an investor will make a negative return of 1.6% a year. Just in case that's too complicated, THEY LOOSE MONEY.

[alaintex]

But yet they still do invest, odd.

[Unrepentant]

Right currency speculators buy currency when it is beaten down gambling that it will increase in value over time. That's the point: with the US getting out of Iraq it will have to potential to raise the value of the US currency once we stop shipping 10 billion dollars a month to Iraq.

[lex811]

surge worked....­....get out!

[JoJoKewl]

Out in three years??? Why so long??? Out now!

[Ammobob]

NIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCE! Once we withdraw thru mutual agreement, will it then be a VICTORY?????

[robodweeb]

And after all of the sacrifice and effort we will be no safer from terrorist attack.

[Ammobob]

Have you been hit? It has escaped media attention, you should call......­.

[Camarosc35]

If so, McCain's Iraq trump card is lost.

[stayathomedad]

I look at it as going the other way. Most Americans wanted us out of Iraq. This was a plus for Obama. Now he doesn't have that as a selling point. I don't see McBush losing points here.