Patrick Cockburn, "Revealed: Secret Plan
to Keep Iraq Under U.S. Control," Independent, June 5, 2008
Patrick Cockburn, "Oil Giants Return To
Iraq," Independent, June 20, 2008
["In 2011, the government at that time will determine whether it needs a new
pact or not, and what type of pact will depend on the challenges it
faces."--Patrick Cockburn, "Obama's Iraq
plans vindicated as US agrees to pull out by 2011," Independent,
October 16, 2008]
Hamza Hendawi, "Muqtada
al-Sadr urges rejection of US-Iraqi pact," AP News, October 18,
2008
[Maliki never wanted the much-loathed treaty with Washington, and neither
did Tehran. To keep his post, however, he had to go on with American
requests to ratify the pact before the end of 2008.--Sami Moubayed, "Maliki in
damage-control mode," Asia Times, October 18, 2008]
[It has been a short hundred years. That's how long Republican presidential
candidate John McCain said that American troops might have to stay in Iraq
at the beginning of his campaign, but the deal that Washington concluded
with the Iraqi government last week said that they must all be gone by 2011.
And they must be off the streets of Iraqi cities by the middle of next
year.--Gwynne Dyer, "Iraqi deal with the
United States over troops isn't just for show," Salt Lake Tribune,
October 22, 2008]
[The final draft, dated Oct. 13, not only imposes unambiguous deadlines for
withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by 2011 but makes it extremely unlikely
that a U.S. non-combat presence will be allowed to remain in Iraq for
training and support purposes beyond the 2011 deadline for withdrawal of all
U.S. combat forces.--Gareth Porter, "Final Text of Iraq Pact
Reveals a U.S. Debacle," Inter Press Service, October 22, 2008]
["This is an agreement which takes Iraq out of direct occupation and puts it
under colonialism with the help of the government of Iraq. It only serves
the occupier," said Rubaie, who is also an MP.--Marie Colvin, "<
b>Deal on American presence in Iraq close to collapse," Sunday
Times, October 26, 2008]
Deborah Haynes, "Iraq
demands all US troops out by 2011," Times, October 28, 2008
Ernesto Londono, Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen DeYoung, "Iraq Repeats Insistence on Fixed Withdrawal
Date," Washington Post, November 7, 2008
[The draft approved Sunday requires coalition forces to withdraw from Iraqi
cities and towns by the summer of 2009 and from the country by the end of
2011. An earlier version had language giving some flexibility to that
deadline, with both sides discussing timetables and timelines for
withdrawal, but the Iraqis managed to have the deadline set in stone, a
significant negotiating victory. The United States has around 150,000 troops
in Iraq.--Campbell Robertson, "
Iraqi Cabinet Approves Security Pact With U.S.," New York Times,
November 17, 2008]
[The Bush administration has adopted a much looser interpretation than the
Iraqi government of several key provisions of the pending U.S.-Iraq security
agreement, U.S. officials said Tuesday Ñ just hours before the Iraqi
parliament was to hold its historic vote.
These include a provision that bans the launch of attacks on other countries
from Iraq, a requirement to notify the Iraqis in advance of U.S. military
operations and the question of Iraqi legal jurisdiction over American troops
and military contractors.
Officials in Washington said the administration has withheld the official
English translation of the agreement in an effort to suppress a public
dispute with the Iraqis until after the Iraqi parliament votes.--Adam
Ashton, Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy A. Youssef, "U.S. staying
silent on its view of Iraq pact until after vote," McClatchy
Newspapers, November 25, 2008]
[After Inauguration, he should declare the war illegal because it was
initiated by President George W. Bush pursuant to an unconstitutional
delegation of power by Congress effectuated by the Authorization for the Use
of Military Force Against Iraq (AUMFAI). Mr. Obama should announce that all
combat operations in Iraq will cease 30 days after Inauguration unless
Congress enacts a statute directing him to continue the war.--Bruce Fein,
"Obama's overlooked exit strategy," Washington Times,
November 25, 2008]
"Secret
SOFA provisions exposed," presstv.ir, November 27, 2008
"Iraq
parliament backs US pullout," BBC News, November 27, 2008
[On November 27 the Iraqi parliament voted by a large majority in favor of
a security agreement with the US under which the 150,000 American troops in
Iraq will withdraw from cities, towns and villages by June 30, 2009 and
from all of Iraq by December 31, 2011. The Iraqi government will take over
military responsibility for the Green Zone in Baghdad, the heart of
American power in Iraq, in a few weeks time. Private security companies
will lose their legal immunity. US military operations and the arrest of
Iraqis will only be carried out with Iraqi consent. There will be no US
military bases left behind when the last US troops leave in three years
time and the US military is banned in the interim from carrying out attacks
on other countries from Iraq.
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed after eight months of
rancorous negotiations, is categorical and unconditional.--Patrick Cockburn,
"Total Defeat
for U.S. in Iraq," counterpunch.org, December 11, 2008]
[The NeoCons may have been defeated, but the Great
Game is not over.--Robert D. Crane, "Defeat
for Neo-Cons in Iraq: Victory for President Obama?," American
Muslim, December 11, 2008]
[US military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through
public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they
plan to violate a central provision of the US-Iraq withdrawal agreement
requiring the complete withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraqi cities
by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops.--Gareth
Porter, "US
Military Defiant on Key Terms of Iraqi Pact," antiwar.com, December
19, 2008]
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, "Gordon Brown has been spinning his own fairy tale of
Baghdad," Independent, December 22, 2008]
[In Baghdad, however, there are no plans to close the Camp Victory base
complex, consisting of five bases housing more than 20,000 soldiers, many of
them combat troops.
. . . Forward Operating Base Falcon, which can hold 5,000 combat troops,
will also remain after June 30. It is just within Baghdad's southern city
limits.--Rod Nordland, "Exceptions
to Iraq Deadline Are Proposed," New York Times, April 27, 2009]
Erik Leaver and Daniel Atzmon, "A Withdrawal in Name Only," Foreign Policy in Focus,
June 24, 2009