After months of game playing, Iraqi leaders say they now have a deal to keep a limited number of American trainers in the country, writes Salah Nasrawi Iraqi political leaders agreed Tuesday to allow some US troops to stay in Iraq "for training" purposes, ending a months-long impasse on whether to ask US troops to remain after the end of the year, as agreed in a 2008 security pact between Baghdad and the Bush administration. Following a meeting that lasted for nearly four hours, the leaders said they agreed to authorise the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to negotiate a new deal with the US government that will allow some American trainers to stay in the violence-ripped country. In a televised statement, the leaders also said they agreed to reinvigorate a power-sharing accord that has stumbled over the formation of a new policymaking council that would have allowed the mainly Sunni Al-Iraqiya List bloc to have veto power over key decisions made by the Shia-Kurdish dominated cabinet. Iraqi politicians' views over the pull-out of US forces have been divergent with each party blaming the other. All were afraid that they would face a political backlash if they asked for an extension of the US presence. US officials have stepped up pressure on the Iraqi government to "invite" some of the US troops to stay in Iraq beyond the 31 December deadline. On Sunday, US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen flew to Iraq in a last ditch effort to press the Iraqis to make a formal request for the US troop presence extension. Before meeting Al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, Mullen said Iraq's indecision on whether to ask US forces to stay beyond the end of the year is pushing the US close to the point where a smooth, safe troop withdrawal would be jeopardised. His visit followed a phone conversation between Al-Maliki and US Vice President Joe Biden on 28 July and a visit to Baghdad by Pentagon chief Leon Panetta last month to nudge the Iraqis on the troop extension issue. Several Iraqi officials who attended the meeting told Al-Ahram Weekly that Mullen gave the Iraqi leaders a 24-hour ultimatum to make up their mind on the future of the US presence in Iraq. Hours before the meeting Mullen said in Baghdad that the remaining American troops must be given immunity from prosecution as part of any agreement to keep them in Iraq and that this protection must be approved by Iraq's parliament. The Iraqi statement made no mention of these two preconditions but officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the leaders agreed that the presence of trainers does not require the parliament's approval and the deal would be left to the government to sign. The officials also expected that negotiations over immunity would be a tough issue taking into consideration criticism to US soldiers' conduct during the eight-year occupation. Last week, an Iraqi tribal sheikh and two others were killed when Iraqi and American soldiers attacked a village north of Baghdad, allegedly trying to arrest suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists. It is not clear if the Americans had a hand in the killing but locals blamed them for the attack and the case shows how complicated is the presence of US soldiers. The deal was made possible after some tough bargaining. Al-Maliki agreed to implement a power- sharing agreement that will give Sunni ministers and senior officers a larger saying in running security affairs. Leaders of the mainly Sunni Al-Iraqiya List threatened that they would not attend the meeting if Al-Maliki would not agree to implement the agreement, including naming new defence and interior ministers. Participants said representatives of the Shia radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr's political bloc walked out of the meeting after they rejected the deal. On Monday, Qusai Al-Suhail, head of the bloc, and one of the bloc's delegates, told Iraq's Al-Sabah newspaper that Sadrists will remain opposed to any extension on the presence of US troops. "We do not need to renew the agreement under any pretext," he said. Anti-American Al-Sadr, whose bloc is a key ally in Al-Maliki's government, has threatened to continue military resistance and mount protests if US troops stay. He warned that his movement would revive its Jaish Al-Mahdi militia if the Americans remained beyond schedule. It is not clear, however, if US negotiators will insist during negotiations on a parliamentary endorsement or if they will accept a deal without the required immunity to their soldiers. Also, neither side has so far talked about the fate of several giant bases built by the US military in Iraq, or whether the remaining US forces will take up some combat missions. Notably, the announcement of the deal came three days after a US government watchdog reported that the security situation in Iraq is more dangerous than it was a year ago. The findings contrast with public statements by US diplomatic and military officials in Iraq and their release are apparently aimed at adding more pressure on the Iraqis. Citing more attacks on US troops, a continuing wave of assassinations targeting Iraqi officials, and a growing number of indirect rocket strikes on Baghdad's Green Zone, the US special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction concluded that Iraq is "less safe" than 12 months ago. Figures compiled by the ministries of health, interior and defence showed that a total of 259 Iraqis -- 159 civilians, 56 policemen and 44 soldiers -- died as a result of attacks in June. The overall toll represented a slight drop from June's figure of 271 killed, but remained the second-highest monthly death toll. A total of 259 people were also killed in January. Indeed, more than eight years after the invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein violence continues and Shia and Sunni Muslim groups carry out killings, bombings and attacks almost daily. That might have also been used by the Iraqi leaders to justify their desire to keep some US troops present under the pretext of training the country's fledgling security forces. Indeed, the deal looks remarkably similar to what many Iraqis had long ago predicted would emerge based on their knowledge of agreements already reached with Washington. On Sunday, Al-Maliki confirmed that Baghdad aims to buy 36 F-16 fighters from the United States. He said the fighter jets would come with trainers who will help operate and maintain them. Also, Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al-Assadi told Reuters Saturday that the ministry plans to sign a deal with the US government to supply scores of US civilian security personnel to train its troops. In a related development, Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said the United States is planning to provide the Iraqi government with a wiretapping system to eavesdrop on cellular calls and messages to assist in counter- terrorism. The proposed system would allow Iraqi officials to monitor and store voice calls, data transmissions and text messages and would be installed with the acquiescence of mobile communications providers in Iraq. The system, which would be able to target at least 5,000 devices, would be designed for expansion in mind to cover landline telephone systems and international mobile telecommunications. The result of the deal, however, is that thousands of American soldiers are now likely to stay in Iraq for years to come. What is less clear, however, is if that US troop presence will contribute to ending Iraq's troubles or will sustain them.
