NEGROPONTE SAYS U.S., IRAQ NEARING SECURITY AGREEMENT
By Erica Goode, The New York Times

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
PA

BAGHDAD — Winding up a visit to Iraq that has taken him to six
provinces, Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte yesterday
said U.S. and Iraqi negotiators were close to resolving issues that
have stood in the way of a security agreement governing the continued
presence of U.S. troops in the country.

Mr. Negroponte said his trip included "fruitful discussions" on a
variety of political and economic issues, including the security
agreement. But he declined to discuss what sticking points remained
in negotiating the accord.

He was joined by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari at a news
conference in the fortified Green Zone.

Mr. Zebari said "new formulations and new language" had allowed
progress on the legal status of U.S. troops in Iraq. The question of
whether, and under what conditions, American soldiers and military
contractors who are accused of crimes should be subject to Iraqi laws,
or given immunity from them, has been a central obstacle throughout
the talks.

"I think we are very close," Mr. Zebari said, but he added that
"no final decision has been made."

Mr. Zebari, who noted that Mr. Negroponte had been helpful in moving
the talks forward, said further progress would call for "bold political
decisions."

In September, Iraqi and U.S. officials said the legal immunity issue
was threatening to derail the negotiations. The United States has
argued for the same legal protections that apply in other countries
where U.S. troops are based. The Iraqi government has been adamant
that any crime committed outside of a military operation should be
subject to prosecution in Iraqi courts.

In negotiating the agreement, the United States has agreed to withdraw
combat troops from Iraqi cities by June 2009, and from the rest of
Iraq by the end of 2011 — assuming that conditions in the country
remain stable.

Iran, meanwhile, stepped up pressure against the proposed agreement,
with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telling a visiting Iraqi official
yesterday that Iraq had "a duty" to resist the Americans, The
Associated Press reported.

Also yesterday, an Iraqi panel led by President Jalal Talabani approved
the provincial elections law passed by parliament late last month. The
panel’s action clears the way for elections to occur by Jan. 31. The
elections are seen by many U.S. and Iraqi officials as critical to
achieving reconciliation among Iraq’s political and religious factions.

Although the presidential panel approved the election law, it also
recommended that parliament vote separately on an article of the
bill dealing with political representation for Christians and other
minorities. The article, which set aside 15 provincial council seats
across Iraq for minorities, was written into an earlier version of
the law but dropped before the legislation was passed by parliament.

Eman al-Assadi, a member of parliament’s legal committee, said the
question of minority representation would be taken up by lawmakers
today. The members, she said, would consider several possible
solutions, including voting separately on the article and forming a
committee to draft a new law addressing the issue. The removal of the
article from the law stirred protests by Christians and other groups.

Mr. Negroponte, who during his stay in Iraq visited Kirkuk —
the oil-rich northern city at the center of a dispute among Arabs,
Kurds, Turkmens, Christians and other groups — called passage of the
provincial elections law "noteworthy," but also mentioned the issue
of minorities. "I heard often while traveling, and in my meetings with
the government of Iraq, that it was of paramount importance to resolve
the call for minority representation during the electoral process,"
he said.

He added that Iraq had made many gains, and was "slowly but surely
strengthening its democracy."

In Mosul yesterday, a U.S. soldier died of wounds sustained in
a firefight at a home where a suspected insurgent had been believed
to be hiding, the U.S. military said. When gunfire erupted from the
house, an airstrike was conducted, the military said, adding that an
Iraqi police officer and a member of the insurgency were also killed.

The U.S. military also said yesterday that 46 Armenian troops were
returning home. The Armenians served under a Polish brigade that
earlier this month ended its mission in Iraq. Troops from Italy,
Spain, Japan and other countries have also departed.

In a statement, the military said 380 Armenian troops had served in
Iraq since 2005, providing support in transportation, engineering
and medicine.