Martin Chulov in Baghdad and Richard Norton-Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Monday November 17
"....In a development that caught coalition officials by surprise [wink, wink!] , Iraq's cabinet yesterday ended one year of protracted negotiations by agreeing to a series of US amendments to draft documents. All but one cabinet minister present at the meeting committed to the agreement.
On Saturday the leading Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani dropped his opposition to the deal, in a shift that some observers believe paved the way for a Shia bloc in the cabinet to vote in its favour....
The deal must now be ratified by the 275-seat Iraqi legislature, a process that most considered a formality.....
President George Bush had opposed setting a timetable for a troop withdrawal, saying combat forces would leave only when Iraq was stable enough for them to go [COMMENT: This is the clincher; the agreement still states that such "withdrawal" by the end of 2011 is subject to Iraq being stable enough and can handle the security situation by itself. No problem! mysterious car bombings can always be arranged by the CIA and its operatives when needed, to ensure that "Iraq is not ready." The puppet Iraqi government is calling the agreement a "withdrawal agreement" to facilitate swallowing the permanent occupation. In reality, the U.S. got everything it always wanted. ]However, the US embassy in Baghdad yesterday hailed the decision as a "positive step".
Iran and the loyalist Iraqi Shia militia of the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had demanded that all US troops should leave Iraq immediately. Response to the Iraqi cabinet agreement was mute in Tehran last night, while al-Sadr threatened to mobilise his powerful militia, which he stood down earlier this year. The cleric's stronghold in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City was last night surrounded by coalition and Iraqi troops ready to try to quickly suppress any revolt."
guardian.co.uk, Monday November 17
"....In a development that caught coalition officials by surprise [wink, wink!] , Iraq's cabinet yesterday ended one year of protracted negotiations by agreeing to a series of US amendments to draft documents. All but one cabinet minister present at the meeting committed to the agreement.
On Saturday the leading Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani dropped his opposition to the deal, in a shift that some observers believe paved the way for a Shia bloc in the cabinet to vote in its favour....
The deal must now be ratified by the 275-seat Iraqi legislature, a process that most considered a formality.....
President George Bush had opposed setting a timetable for a troop withdrawal, saying combat forces would leave only when Iraq was stable enough for them to go [COMMENT: This is the clincher; the agreement still states that such "withdrawal" by the end of 2011 is subject to Iraq being stable enough and can handle the security situation by itself. No problem! mysterious car bombings can always be arranged by the CIA and its operatives when needed, to ensure that "Iraq is not ready." The puppet Iraqi government is calling the agreement a "withdrawal agreement" to facilitate swallowing the permanent occupation. In reality, the U.S. got everything it always wanted. ]However, the US embassy in Baghdad yesterday hailed the decision as a "positive step".
Iran and the loyalist Iraqi Shia militia of the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had demanded that all US troops should leave Iraq immediately. Response to the Iraqi cabinet agreement was mute in Tehran last night, while al-Sadr threatened to mobilise his powerful militia, which he stood down earlier this year. The cleric's stronghold in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City was last night surrounded by coalition and Iraqi troops ready to try to quickly suppress any revolt."
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