BY TAYLOR MARSH
What distinguishes the
final agreement is the stature to which al Maliki has now risen in the eyes of many. He’s getting good reviews.
In a country where agreements are hard to reach, Prime Minister Nouri al
Maliki built a broad political coalition to muscle through a divisive U.S.-Iraq
security pact that could set his place in his nation’s history as the
man who ended the American occupation.He took the mantle of a nationalist in televised remarks Thursday night after
the pact he helped broker passed parliament by a landslide 149-35 vote.[...] The agreement calls on the U.S. military to pull back from cities and
towns by June, to consult with the government of Iraq before conducting an
operation and to withdraw completely from the country by Dec. 31, 2011.It denies judicial immunity to foreign military contractors, and it prohibits
the U.S. from attacking other countries from bases in Iraq.Maliki’s supporters call the pact an unmitigated victory for the prime minister.
Other
analysis paints al Maliki a hero, the man who got the U.S. to redeploy (h/t
Juan Cole).
"This security agreement, because of its stipulation that the US gets
out on a timetable, potentially turns Maliki into a hero of national independence."
While other describe him simply as the next strong man. The question of the
support councils, which work on behalf of the Maliki government, but act separately.
Seen as combating the strength of the Kurds in the north, as well as the Shiite Islamists
in the south, some in these sectors are wary: But opponents call the councils
armed militias that answer to the prime minister but work outside the Iraqi
military and police.
Opponents fear they’ll be used to boost Maliki’s party in next
year’s elections at their expense and with the sway of cash steal support
from politically powerful parties such as the Kurdish Democratic Party and
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the north and the Islamic Supreme Council
of Iraq that dominates in the Shiite south.
Another step for Iraq. We’ll have to wait to see what’s next.
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