Iraq - U.S. Security Agreement -- News Updates For November 19, 2008

Protestors chant anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, November 19, 2008. About 500 people took part in a rally on Wednesday in Tikrit demanding the deadline for the U.S. troops departure from Iraq. (Sabah al-Bazee/Reuters)

Maliki Defends Troop Pact; Sadr Demands Its Rejection
-- Yahoo News/McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki on Tuesday urged the Iraqi public to support the new pact that calls for withdrawing American forces as his most determined opponent, radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr , once again urged the parliament to vote down the agreement.

Maliki's nationally televised address marked his first clear, public endorsement of the treaty after nine months of what he called "difficult and complicated" negotiations with U.S. officials.

In May, Maliki declared that the negotiations were at an impasse, and he'd remained lukewarm this fall, neither endorsing nor rejecting a draft of the agreement.

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More News On The U.S. - Iraq Security Agreement

Iraqi Premier Defends Security Accord -- New York Times
Iraq's Maliki defends security pact -- L.A. Times
Iraq PM says pact's critics want U.S. troops to stay -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Iraq debate on US pact disrupted -- Al Jazeera
Iraq cabinet backs US troops deal -- BBC
Iraqi and American Critics of Security Pact Speak Up -- New York Times
Small Iraqi party says it will not support US pact -- AP
Sadr Threatens Attacks on U.S. Troops if Accord Passes -- Washington Post

Mullen: U.S. Would Need More Than 2 Years For Iraq Withdrawal

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Washington Foreign Press Center Briefing on "U.S. National Security Strategy Update." (Photo from State)

From the Washington Post:

The U.S. military would require two to three years to remove its roughly 150,000 troops and equipment from Iraq safely, and the timing of that withdrawal should be based on security conditions on the ground, the nation's top military officer said today.

"To remove the entire force would be, you know, two to three years," Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference.

While Mullen said that he and the top commanders for Iraq and the region, Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus, were "comfortable" with the status of forces agreement signed with Iraq today, he described some logistical hurdles to a U.S. troop withdrawal along a fixed timeline.

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My Comment: Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is laying the military line to the politicians.

Iraq's Al-Maliki Wants Short-Term US Agreement

US soldiers stand near the landmark "Hands of Victory", built by executed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to commemorate Iraq's victory in the Iran-Iraq war, inside Baghdad's Green Zone on July 5.

From Yahoo News:

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Iraq has proposed a short-term memorandum of understanding with the United States rather than trying to hammer through a formal agreement on the presence of U.S. forces, the country's prime minister said Monday.

The Iraqi government proposed the memorandum after widespread Iraqi opposition to United States demands emerged during talks on a more formal Status of Forces Agreement. Some type of agreement is needed to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at year's end.

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More News On Iraq - U.S. Agreement

Iraq says may agree timetable for U.S. withdrawal -- Reuters
Iraqi PM says he wants short-term memo, not formal agreement on presence of US forces -- International Herald Tribune
Iraqi lawmakers say U.S. demanding 58 military bases -- Indymedia
Iraq raises prospect of US troop pullout -- Sydney Morning Herald
US may cut troops in Iraq no matter who is president: report -- Economic Times Of India
FACTBOX - Iraq's thorny security negotiations with U.S. -- Reuters

My Comment: American forces will be in Iraq for a very long time. It is in everyone's interests that this must be the case. The discussion right now is the size and extent of this American footprint. If Europe, Japan, and Kuwait are used as reference points, American forces will be in the desert for a very long time. The footprint will not be noticeable, but the presence of maybe 35,000 to 75,000 troops and support personal will be there.