BAGHDAD, Dec. 4, 2007

Iraq OKs U.S. Troop Presence For Last Time

Government Will Ask U.N. To Extend Military Authorization, But Last Year For Wide Powers

  • U.S. soldiers with the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry out of Ft. Lewis, Washington, traverse fields at sunrise on the way to conducting house to house searches, Dec. 3, 2007 in Mukhisa, Iraq. Photo

    U.S. soldiers with the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry out of Ft. Lewis, Washington, traverse fields at sunrise on the way to conducting house to house searches, Dec. 3, 2007 in Mukhisa, Iraq.  (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

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(CBS/AP)  The Iraqi Cabinet agreed Tuesday to ask the United Nations to extend the authorization for U.S.-led forces in Iraq through the end of next year, but it will be the last time, officials said.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week that his government would ask the U.N. Security Council for the last time to renew the mandate that has given the United States and its partners sweeping powers in Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

The chief government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Cabinet had formally approved that decision.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker welcomed the move.

"This is a very positive process," he said at a news conference. "Iraq is increasingly able to stand on its own but will not have to stand alone."

The Cabinet move came a week after al-Maliki's administration and the United States signed a set of principles for future cooperation between the two countries as the U.S. military begins to draw down forces.

That set the stage for negotiations between the United States and Iraq on a new security formula, including the number of troops remaining here and the legal framework under which they will operate.

That agreement is scheduled to be reached by July 31, 2008, when the Iraqi government will present it to parliament for ratification, al-Maliki. That agreement would eventually replace the present U.N. mandate regulating the presence of the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to the prime minister, said the security situation in the country will require the presence of U.S. forces for the coming year. He said the request for the extension would include the same terms as last year, with the exception that it would be the final one.

The U.N. mandate regulates the U.S. presence in the country and gives it sweeping rights, including the right to detain suspects indefinitely without charge.

In other developments:

  • President Bush will hold a news conference Tuesday at the White House to try to keep pressure on Congress to approve money for the war in Iraq and other administration priorities. Mr. Bush and congressional Democrats are locked in a struggle over Iraq spending, with neither side budging and each calculating that their argument will be the one to resonate with voters.

  • Sunni Arab lawmakers ended a yearlong boycott of politics in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, after the Kurdish majority agreed to allot one-third of government jobs to Arabs and appoint an Arab as deputy governor. The move helps mend a rift here between Arabs and Kurds, months before the province is set to vote on whether it will join Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region to the north or continue to be governed by Baghdad. Much of Iraq's vast oil wealth lies under the ground in Kirkuk, and the province is coveted by Kurdish and Arab parties.

  • The Pentagon announced Monday that five Army National Guard units have been alerted that they are going to serve in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The units include some 8,000 troops going to the Iraq war and 7,000 to Afghanistan, all as replacement units to deploy in the summer of 2009.

  • Reconstruction officials have announced the first commercial flight in 14 years from the airport in the northern city of Mosul after a $13.2 million renovation. The Iraqi Airways flight with 152 Iraqi pilgrims on their way to the hajj left late Sunday for Baghdad, where they were to catch a connecting flight to Saudi Arabia, according to a statement. Mosul's airport had been closed to commercial traffic since the U.S. military declared the city a no-fly zone in 1993 to protect the area from Saddam's forces.

  • Separately, Iraqi military officials raised to 23 the number of bodies discovered in a mass grave near Lake Tharthar - a former stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq, according to a statement by the Iraqi army's 1st Division, which oversees the area northwest of Baghdad. And the U.S. military said Tuesday it had identified an al Qaeda operative killed in a Nov. 17 raid on a reported propaganda house as Abu Maysara, a Syrian who directed the terror group's media network.

  • Kidnappers of five Britons seized last May demanded that Britain pull all its forces from Iraq, according to a videotape broadcast Tuesday by an Arabic satellite station. The video, aired by Al-Arabiya television, featured one of the purported kidnapped Britons. The man, who spoke in a clearly British accent, said the tape had been made Nov. 18. He was seated beneath a sign reading "the Islamic Shiite Resistance in Iraq." A written statement featured on the video accused Britain of plundering the wealth of Iraq and demanded the British troops leave within 10 days. It did not say what would happen if the deadline were not met nor when the countdown begins.

    More than 25,000 Iraqis who fled to Syria have returned, the Iraqi Red Crescent said, offering an estimate of refugee returns radically lower than one given by an Iraqi government eager to highlight recent declines in violence. In a separate report Tuesday, a human rights group said Iraqis who sought refuge in Lebanon are being coerced into returning home.

    The Red Crescent report, issued for the period beginning Sept. 15 and ending Nov. 30, said most of the estimated 25,000 to 28,000 refugees made the trip home in September and October, and the numbers tapered off during November. Officials in Iraq and Syria have said more than 46,000 refugees returned in October and claimed the flow has continued unabated.

    Echoing concerns by U.S. and U.N. officials that many would find their homes occupied by others, the report said many of those who came from Syria - instead of returning to their own towns and neighborhoods - joined the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis displaced within their homeland.

    The report said the overwhelming majority of the refugees - at least 19,000 - returned to Baghdad, which has seen a dramatic turnaround in recent months, due largely to the influx of American troops to the capital, the freeze in activities from the feared Mahdi Army Shiite militia, and the U.S. push to enlist local Sunnis to help in the fight against al Qaeda.

    Quote

    Refugees who are arrested face the prospect of rotting in jail indefinitely unless they agree to return to Iraq and face the dangers there.

    Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch
    The U.N. announced Tuesday $11.4 million in additional assistance for the most vulnerable refugees returning to Iraq.

    The Red Crescent said many of the Iraqis returned to three neighborhoods largely reclaimed from al Qaeda in Iraq's control: Amariyah, Azamiyah and Dora. But, the organization warned, many of those who returned did so at least in part because their money ran out.

    "The high cost of living and rented apartments and the limited employment opportunities contributed to lack of stability of Iraqi families and increased their passion to return to their country," said the report, which drew its findings from transportation companies, and government departments and ministries.

    Eager to take credit for the decline in violence, Iraq's government is airing commercials directed at the exiles in Syria, providing armored convoys of buses and paying stipends to help with relocation costs.

    Most refugees fled to neighboring Syria, but some also made it to other countries, including Jordan and to Lebanon. Iraqi refugees in Lebanon without valid visas are detained indefinitely unless they agree to return home, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday.

    "Iraqi refugees in Lebanon live in constant fear of arrest," Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "Refugees who are arrested face the prospect of rotting in jail indefinitely unless they agree to return to Iraq and face the dangers there."

    But U.S. and U.N. officials warn Iraq lacks clear policies for the returnees, including frameworks to settle property disputes and fear violence will flare again if the Shiite-led government fails to capitalize on the security gains and make political progress.

    © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Video and Galleries from Iraq After Saddam

    Add a Comment See all 38 Comments
    by prinzowhales December 4, 2007 11:56 AM PST
    Its easy to stop violence...if you and your al CIAda agents are responsible for much of it...
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales December 4, 2007 12:12 PM PST
    Who is responsible for the murder and maiming of hundreds of thousands of human beings...Iraqi and American?--A former Italian Prime Minister who revealed the existence of OPERATION GLADIO, in which American and NATO operatives commited bombings and other violence to discredit the Left, reveals that the CIA and Mossad ran the 9-11 operation to provide a rationale for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

    http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/cossiga_ex_italian_pres_intel_agencies_know_911_inside_job.htm
    Reply to this comment
    by bareemperor December 4, 2007 12:27 PM PST
    9/II = CIA false flag op?

    Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act = Constitution Burned?

    Proposed SB 1959 = Institutionalized hatred and fear?

    C''mon, babyboomers - you stopped these same tyrants before, it''s time to act once more.

    Remove the traitors before 9/ I I I
    Reply to this comment
    by ramos937 December 4, 2007 12:48 PM PST
    " The Iraqi Cabinet agreed Tuesday to ask the United Nations to extend the authorization for U.S.-led forces in Iraq through the end of next year, but it will be the last time, officials said."

    Since the Iraqi government is soveriegn and has made this committment, I fail to see President Bush''s position of not wanting a deadline like Congress wants to add to the funding bill. Iraq has set the deadline and not the USA.
    Reply to this comment
    by shawnfassett-2009 December 4, 2007 12:48 PM PST
    The Iraqi Cabinet is NOT the Iraqi Parliament. Cute wordplay by CBS/AP...but the Iraqi Parliament aren''t going along with this. This can''t help any.
    Reply to this comment
    by infidel_us December 4, 2007 12:51 PM PST
    Nancy_Naive,

    Only a bedweting lib could take a great song and twist it in to a leftwing political pretzel. I am profoundly disappointed.
    Reply to this comment
    by superdem December 4, 2007 2:24 PM PST
    Only a right wing ideolog could misspell "bedwetting". And what''s the point of that personal insult ? Like all right wing insults, it''s based on nothing but venom while ignoring the point. The Iraqi authorities do what the United States wants. We would not be building a Disneyland embassy, the largest in the world, if there was a ghost of a chance that a legitimate Iraqi government would demand that we leave. The Iraqi government it totally corrupt, and we support them. We aren''t going anywhere, in more ways than one. This is a travesty - so grow up, stop your insults, and say something sensible, if you can.
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 2:34 PM PST

    Re: Nancy_Naive at 11:40

    You drive a hard bargain.

    Regards
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 2:40 PM PST

    Re: "Iraq OKs U.S. Troop Presence For Last Time"

    Iraq continues to lack a government that can be seen as either legitimate or sovereign.

    Hence, as the illegal war of aggression against Iraq continues into its fifth year, and the shameful carnage continues, there is still no nobody for our misleaders, or for U.N. officials, to negotiate with, on behalf of the people of Iraq.
    Reply to this comment
    by ajmarine1 December 4, 2007 2:57 PM PST
    "This is a very positive process,"

    Any move by the Iraq government to stand on its own is positive news.
    Reply to this comment
    by famulla-2009 December 4, 2007 2:58 PM PST
    Iraq OKs U.S. Troop Presence For Last Time
    Government Will Ask U.N. To Extend Military Authorization, But Last Year For Wide Powers

    But sir I thought UN was/is under USA any way
    May be I must be reading about UN in Africa??? Sort of failed UN in Darfur, Tsunami gives me jitters
    And do these soldiers come back now or is there a veto from Mr. Bush we have to wait. No I am serious. The veto in everything from the manufacturing of the currency to appointments of the judges and e fence on the border and the health and education has got me all thinking, what exactly is veto and what this magic wand works for Mr. Bush every time senate wants to move ahead

    I thank you
    Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
    P.O.Box 6044
    Dar-Es-Salaam
    Tanzania
    East Africa
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 3:00 PM PST

    Related:

    Trigger-happy U.S. soldiers shoot more Iraqi civilians, while hunting down imaginary psy-ops boogie men.

    ###

    U.S. soldiers shoot 4 Iraqi civilians, one killed
    Tuesday, December 4, 2007; 3:56 AM

    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers mistakenly shot four Iraqi civilians, killing one, during operations against al Qaeda militants, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 3:11 PM PST

    Didn''t the Decider and Maliki already decide that we won''t be leaving Iraq, until we are kicked out, or until we lose interest?
    Reply to this comment
    by agarwal1 December 4, 2007 3:11 PM PST
    WATCH IRAKI TROOPS SHOOTING A CHINESE COTRACTOR IN THE HEAD... CAUGHT BY US TROOPS... WARNING VERY GRAPHIC!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjQpFAGUrQ
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 3:21 PM PST

    Re: "And the U.S. military said Tuesday it had identified an al Qaeda operative killed in a Nov. 17 raid on a reported propaganda house as Abu Maysara, a Syrian who directed the terror group''s media network."

    Was the name of this alleged operative, "IntelCenter" by any chance?
    Reply to this comment
    by tylenol6 December 4, 2007 3:24 PM PST
    HAS ANYONE HEARD BUSH IS SENDING 8 NATIONAL GUARD UNITS
    TO BE DEPLOYED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN????? MORE TROOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 December 4, 2007 3:27 PM PST

    Re: "Separately, Iraqi military officials raised to 23 the number of bodies discovered in a mass grave near Lake Tharthar - a former stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq..."

    Is is too much to ask from CBS Newz, for a summary of how these terrarists can be identified as members of "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq"?

    Don''t we all need to develop these detection techniques, in case we spot one of them "over here" instead of "over there"?
    Reply to this comment
    by hillaryin08 December 4, 2007 3:30 PM PST
    Whats up with the 20,000 more troops in Afghanistan this year more than last year? What could George be up to?
    Reply to this comment
    by ajmarine1 December 4, 2007 3:39 PM PST
    What could George be up to?

    Posted by hillaryin08 at 03:30 PM : Dec 04, 2007


    Maybe looking for OBL?

    Maybe he''s ready to start looking for him in Pakistan?
    Reply to this comment
    by agarwal1 December 4, 2007 3:43 PM PST
    watch chenny hanging an Iraqi... on you tube narrated by chinese

    watch CHenny pushing a little kid of his way causing him fall.. caught and posted on youtub

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjQpFAGUrQ
    Reply to this comment
    by cbs_oliver December 4, 2007 3:47 PM PST
    I don''t think the cabinet - Maliki and some friends - has the authority under the Iraqi constitution to do what they are doing.

    Of course, US government support for this is consistent with the US government''s disregard for the rule of law anywhere.

    Our government has returned to tribal practices of priviledge that were common in Germanic cultures as opposed to the rule of law which was common in Roman cultures.

    Completely typical of the circumstance of Holy war in which the US and European Christian cultures who control the UN are engaged.

    Too bad.

    Nothing good will come of this.
    Reply to this comment
    by trillion1 December 4, 2007 3:48 PM PST
    The Iraqi "goverment" knows the second US troops leave their dead meat.
    Reply to this comment
    by agarwal1 December 4, 2007 4:04 PM PST
    DO YOU KNOW THAT ......

    97% OF ALL ATHIEST WASH FACE WITH GOAT URINE

    94% OF ALL ATHIEST USE DOG S H I T IN HOT DOG BUNS

    97% OF ALL ATHIEST BAKE PIE THAT IS FILLED WITH THEIR OWN S H I T

    100% ATHIEST DO NOT BELIEVE IN REGULAR GOD BUT THEY SECRETLY WORSHIP SNAKE S H I T MIXED WITH PIG DROPLINGS !!!

    CHECK IT OUT IN YOUTUBE ......

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjQpFAGUrQ
    Reply to this comment
    by denn034 December 4, 2007 4:31 PM PST
    The Democrats don''t want them there that long. It definitely sends the wrong signal to our allies that Iraq''s request for our troops to stay is under attack at home by the Democrats that''s for sure.
    Reply to this comment
    by grazinggoat December 4, 2007 4:51 PM PST
    (CBS/AP): ''The Iraqi Cabinet agreed Tuesday to ask the United Nations to extend the authorization for U.S.-led forces in Iraq through the end of next year, but it will be the last time, officials said.''

    -After that, US-forces are to stay there permanently. LOL!
    Reply to this comment
    by minminmin-2009 December 4, 2007 4:55 PM PST
    denn034 --

    what allies?
    Reply to this comment
    by macusweil December 4, 2007 4:55 PM PST
    We have lost 30,000 dead and wounded soldiers and spent over one trillion dollars in Iraq. What do we have to show for all that?

    With that investment we could have easily saved Social Security. If your happy with that and want more of the same vote for Hillary, Rudy, Mitt, Mike or Fred.

    If you want real change for the better vote for Congressman Ron Paul for president in 2008.

    Ron Paul has a very clear message: Let''s hold our government accountable, stop the free spending habits of both parties and bring our troops home & out of harm''s way as quick as we possibly can.

    Under sound leadership this country will be back on the course of freedom, liberty & prosperity for all out citizens. America will once again be the land of the free & home of the brave where the true patriots are those who question the government not those who blindly follow.

    www.RonPaul4all.com

    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet December 4, 2007 5:12 PM PST
    The Democrats don''''t want them there that long. It definitely sends the wrong signal to our allies that Iraq''''s request for our troops to stay is under attack at home by the Democrats that''''s for sure.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Posted by denn034 at 04:31 PM : Dec 04, 2007
    + report abuse

    Hey you brain dead bootlicker, where do you think we are IF the American People do not turn to the Democrats in the last election? I''ll tell you where... We''re listening to your Fuhrer LIE to us EVERY single day about the situation in Iraq while Rummy tells us our troop levels are just fine. PLEASE stop trying to insult everyone''s intelligence here. The AMERICAN PEOPLE wanted the war in Iraq stopped so they ELECTED the Democrats NOT the other way around. ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush!! You aren''t the sharpest tool in the old shed there are you sparky??? ROFLMAO
    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet December 4, 2007 5:14 PM PST
    DO YOU KNOW THAT ......

    97% OF ALL ATHIEST WASH FACE WITH GOAT URINE

    94% OF ALL ATHIEST USE DOG S H I T IN HOT DOG BUNS

    97% OF ALL ATHIEST BAKE PIE THAT IS FILLED WITH THEIR OWN S H I T

    100% ATHIEST DO NOT BELIEVE IN REGULAR GOD BUT THEY SECRETLY WORSHIP SNAKE S H I T MIXED WITH PIG DROPLINGS !!!

    CHECK IT OUT IN YOUTUBE ......

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
    =YYjQpFAGUrQ



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Posted by IamPundit at 04:04 PM : Dec 04, 2007
    + report abuse

    Can I ask you what people''s religion has to do with this? This is AMERICAN Policy we''re discussing... you know YOUR neighbors son''s and daughters who are DYING because of a Pack of LIES!! Get a life and start pulling you wait you pathetic loser!! sieg Heil Bush
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales December 4, 2007 5:23 PM PST
    Re: "And the U.S. military said Tuesday it had identified an al Qaeda operative killed in a Nov. 17 raid on a reported propaganda house as Abu Maysara, a Syrian who directed the terror group''''s media network."

    Was the name of this alleged operative, "IntelCenter" by any chance?

    Posted by FeelFree1 at 03:21 PM : Dec 04, 2007
    --------------

    Good one, FeelFree1! Very apt...
    Reply to this comment
    by rowdytexan2 December 4, 2007 7:31 PM PST
    Yeah, everybody let Bush slip that little ditty past them. He''s already got the permanent bases ready. And NOBODY batted an eye while he''s making that agreement! Why the hell do we want permanent bases in Iraq?

    Posted by denn034 at 04:31 PM : Dec 04, 2007

    It''s not under attack at all. We''re just refusing and putting our foot down. You want an occupation of Iraq...pick up your gun and head out over there...have at it!


    The only thing we can do now is not fund them!
    Reply to this comment
    by brianbwb-2009 December 5, 2007 7:24 AM PST
    Iraq is not requesting jack. Bushpuppet Maliki, who represents an even smaller percentage if Iraqis than Bush does Americans, is requesting this, and it means that not only American occupiers get to be targets for the resistance, but the other suckers that followed Bush into Iraq will have to eat some more death as well.
    Reply to this comment
    by b-easy63 December 5, 2007 12:01 PM PST
    We keep hearing what Al Maliki (who was NEVER elected) and his sidekicks in government want--but never what the Iraqi people want anymore---why is that? Are we staying and enduring at the behest of our collaborators who want to stay in power with our help or at the request of the unspoken majority who disavow their government and by a margin of 82% have asked for our ouster consistently since 2003?

    This is shades of Marcos, Shah, Noriega and Saddam (ergo our propped up puppet regime) all over again. Same ol'', same ol...America seems to never learn.
    Reply to this comment
    by b-easy63 December 5, 2007 12:04 PM PST
    The only thing we can do now is not fund them!

    Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 07:31 PM : Dec 04, 2007


    Does anyone remember that Congress passed a bill in the summer of 2006 mandating that we NOT set up permanent bases in Iraq? What happened to that?
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales December 5, 2007 1:55 PM PST
    b-easy-63--They changed the names of the permanent bases to "enduring camps".
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales December 5, 2007 1:59 PM PST
    If Bush wasn''t afraid of horses, he''d lead one into the Senate and declare the beast a Senator--and the Senate would applaud!
    Reply to this comment
    by toolmangler-2009 December 5, 2007 6:58 PM PST
    Totally amazing. One of the smallest Nations on earth is one of the most hated and capable nations of all time. why is that? 1.6 billion Muslims live in such fear of Israel that they try to make the rest of the world hate Israel also. Why is that? Could the GOD Israel worships have anything to do with this? Interesting theory!!
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales December 5, 2007 11:19 PM PST
    ToolMangler--It isn''t Israel''s God they fear, its the nukes that Israel has and 400 pound gorrilla sporting the red, white and blue behind that "sh*tty little state" that helped arm her and continues to subsidize her that the world fears and detests. Israel has deserted her God...the rabbins read the words...turn the pages...but the Spirit has departed...it is too bad they can not conjure up a leader as great as the Hezikiah conjured up by the priests and scribes of long ago....
    Reply to this comment
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