Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

[Brett]

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control
Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal
immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

By Patrick Cockburn
Thursday, 5 June 2008


JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

George Bush with General David Petraeus at Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar
Province, Iraq, last year

* Photos enlarge

Related Articles

* Click here to have your say
* Ali Allawi: This raises huge questions over our independence

* Print Print
* Email Email

Search Search Go
Independent.co.uk Web
Bookmark & Share

* Digg It
* del.icio.us
* Facebook
* Stumbleupon

What are these?
Change font size: A | A | A

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the
American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the
outcome of the US presidential election in November.

The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to
The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in
Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops
would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest
Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's
position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in
their country.

But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US.
President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he
can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been
vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term
settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential
nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected
president in November.

The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate,
John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of
victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by
a premature military withdrawal.

America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected
withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 –
10 000 more than when the military "surge" began in January 2007.
Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-
term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also
demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a
free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq
without consulting the Baghdad government.

The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until
now. The leaks are certain to generate an angry backlash in Iraq. "It
is a terrible breach of our sovereignty," said one Iraqi politician,
adding that if the security deal was signed it would delegitimise the
government in Baghdad which will be seen as an American pawn.

The US has repeatedly denied it wants permanent bases in Iraq but one
Iraqi source said: "This is just a tactical subterfuge." Washington
also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft and the right to
pursue its "war on terror" in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest
anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without
consultation.

Mr Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-
called "strategic alliance" without modifications, by the end of next
month. But it is already being condemned by the Iranians and many
Arabs as a continuing American attempt to dominate the region. Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful and usually moderate Iranian
leader, said yesterday that such a deal would create "a permanent
occupation". He added: "The essence of this agreement is to turn the
Iraqis into slaves of the Americans."

Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is believed to be personally
opposed to the terms of the new pact but feels his coalition
government cannot stay in power without US backing.

The deal also risks exacerbating the proxy war being fought between
Iran and the United States over who should be more influential in
Iraq.

Although Iraqi ministers have said they will reject any agreement
limiting Iraqi sovereignty, political observers in Baghdad suspect
they will sign in the end and simply want to establish their
credentials as defenders of Iraqi independence by a show of defiance
now. The one Iraqi with the authority to stop deal is the majority
Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. In 2003, he
forced the US to agree to a referendum on the new Iraqi constitution
and the election of a parliament. But he is said to believe that loss
of US support would drastically weaken the Iraqi Shia, who won a
majority in parliament in elections in 2005.

The US is adamantly against the new security agreement being put to a
referendum in Iraq, suspecting that it would be voted down. The
influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his followers to
demonstrate every Friday against the impending agreement on the
grounds that it compromises Iraqi independence.

The Iraqi government wants to delay the actual signing of the
agreement but the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney has been trying
to force it through. The US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has
spent weeks trying to secure the accord.

The signature of a security agreement, and a parallel deal providing a
legal basis for keeping US troops in Iraq, is unlikely to be accepted
by most Iraqis. But the Kurds, who make up a fifth of the population,
will probably favour a continuing American presence, as will Sunni
Arab political leaders who want US forces to dilute the power of the
Shia. The Sunni Arab community, which has broadly supported a
guerrilla war against US occupation, is likely to be split.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html