BAGHDAD, Oct. 17, 2008
Iraq PM Chastizes U.S. Commander
Says Gen. Ray Odierno "Risked His Position" For Saying Iraqi Lawmakers Took Bribes
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U.S. soldiers stand guard during a ceremony marking reopening of a renovated primary school in Karaghol, 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Loay Hameed)
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki briefed top political leaders Friday about the draft agreement, which includes a timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011 and a compromise giving Iraq authority to try U.S. contractors and soldiers for major crimes committed off-duty and off-base.
A government statement said the same group - including President Jalal Talabani, the two vice presidents and leaders of parliament - would meet again in a few days, suggesting some people raised objections.
One lawmaker who attended the meeting said there were discussions for and against the draft and that two Shiite parties boycotted the session. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.
"There were thorough and important comments," presidential spokesman Nasser al-Ani said. "To the political and national blocs, the agreement remains in the phase of analysis and study."
In an interview published Monday in the Washington Post, Gen. Ray Odierno, who took command of the U.S.-led coalition last month, said U.S. intelligence reports indicated Iran has tried to bribe Iraqi lawmakers to derail the agreement, which must be approved by parliament before the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
"The American commander has risked his position when he spoke in this tone and has regrettably complicated relations," al-Maliki told visiting Kuwaiti journalists Thursday. "How can he speak like this about a baseless allegation? What has been said is truly regrettable."
Odierno and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker met Talabani on Friday and al-Ani, the presidential spokesman, said he understood that Odierno has offered an apology.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The unusually sharp tone of al-Maliki's remarks, aired Friday on Iraqi television, underlined the political sensitivities of both the draft agreement and Iraq's relations with Iran, which opposes the deal.
Many Shiite politicians lived in exile in Iran when Saddam Hussein was in power, returning home after the 2003 ouster of his Sunni-led regime. They include many of the lawmakers al-Maliki needs to ratify the agreement.
Al-Maliki's aides say the prime minister will hold a series of consultations before submitting the draft to parliament in order to measure public opinion and build political support for the pact. The Shiite leader could be politically isolated if he tries to win parliament's backing in the face of widespread opposition.
During the meeting with Kuwaiti journalists, al-Maliki said he had shown the full text to national leaders "with its positives, weaknesses and negatives" - a tacit acknowledgment that Iraq didn't get everything it wanted in the tortuous negotiations.
Al-Maliki did not elaborate but said his consultations showed he wanted to decide on the draft accord "through national consensus."
But several Sunni and Shiite clerics, who wield considerable influence in shaping public opinion, spoke out Friday against the draft, complaining that the Iraqi public knows little about the terms.
"The agreement that is supposed to be signed between Iraq and the U.S. is more dangerous than the occupation," Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar told the congregation in Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque, the most prestigious Sunni shrine in the capital.
"It is illegal and the government should not sign it," Abdul-Jabar said. "The government should get the approval of the Iraqi people through a popular referendum."
At another Baghdad mosque, Shiite cleric Sadralddin al-Qubanji criticized the secrecy that surrounded the months of negotiations with the Americans.
He said the agreement "might be negative or positive" and called on the government to do a better job informing the public about the details.
"There is no national unanimity about it," al-Qubanji said.
Al-Qubanji's noncommittal remarks were significant because he is associated with the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the biggest Shiite party and al-Maliki's partner in the government. It holds 30 of the 275 seats in parliament that al-Maliki needs to ensure a strong majority vote on the agreement.
But the Supreme Council has not announced a stand on the agreement, a move party members say was designed to distance it from the prime minister in case the deal meets significant opposition.
Key council leaders have close ties to Iran.
The political movement loyal to anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which also holds 30 parliament seats, has come out strongly against the agreement and plans to hold a mass rally Saturday in the capital's Sadr City district to reinforce that message.
During a sermon Friday in Najaf, al-Sadr aide Sheik Assad al-Nasseri said the demonstration would demand "the occupier leave Iraq unconditionally."
Al-Nasseri said the Sadrists would continue to oppose the deal "whatever the concessions that the government claims to have gotten."
A copy of the draft, obtained by The Associated Press, shows that the Iraqis won some major concessions, including a date for the U.S. troop withdrawal but with the provision that the government could ask for some soldiers to stay for training and support.
The U.S. also said the Iraqis could get first crack at prosecuting soldiers and contractors accused of serious, premeditated crimes off base and while not on duty. It was unclear whether many Americans would fall under those categories in a combat zone where movements are restricted.
American troops would not be allowed to search homes or hold detainees without a warrant from an Iraqi court.
Meanwhile Friday, a suicide bomber killed a prominent Sunni mosque preacher, Sulaiman al-Jamaili, in Fallujah, police said.
As of Friday, at least 4,185 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
For those who have been, it is in Baghdad that you cannot get from point A to point B without transversing a multiple of speed bumps. Everywhere in the International Zone speed bumps keep the pulse of activity down to a minimum. It''''s a necessary method to keep the pace comfortable, and the peace stable. There cannot be too much growth and development without the necessary slowing down and speeding up that occurs. Even the political process is rife with speed bumps. They bring a tempo to the situation that people can find helpful, since you don''''t want someone getting to far ahead of others.
The Land of Speed Bumps needs to keep moving forward at a steady pace. It cannot get too lively, nor come to a stand-still--unless checking identification; because the speed bumps are here for everyone''''s safety. They are a fiter to remove those militants that want to disrupt the country. The speed bumps help bring tranquility to a difficult environment.
Hmmmm...I truly believe that there is NOTHING that makes the United States look worse than when we behave in a glaringly hypocritical manner.
That observation of Odierno''s was flat-out stupid, given the existence of AIPAC and a number of other specialized "K Street" lobbyists.
It is best that we weed out the influence peddling of foreign governments here in the United States before we try slapping black paint on somebody else''s kettle.
Failing that, then we should keep our mouths shut.
Of course they would, as long as we are there Sadr and his cronies (I learned that word from McSame) cannot become the Grande Iampuffdup and company.
Posted by Hacker11001 at 10:42 AM : Oct 18, 2008
And those are just the ones standing outside the White House. wait til you hear from the Iraqis
Posted by StopSocialis at 08:13 AM : Oct 18, 2008
Why would you say that? YOU wouldn''t know a "Liberal" if one stepped up and slapped you in the face. I''ve read a lot of your posting on here and you CONSTANTLY are calling people who do not agree with you a "Liberal". Well Sparky My Pop, a Member of the GREATEST GENERATION and someone who fought in the Pacific as well as help defeat your hero, Hitler, was a LIBERAL... Come to think of it ALL our greatest have been liberals. Is there some reason you Hate America and our History SO BAD??
Yasser Arafat''''s propaganda doesn''''t work on us Americans who know how to do research on the subject.
And as far as your claim that the Jews will no longer occupy Israel (not Palestine), good luck, it''''s been 60 years and your Muslim jihadist friends still can''''t defeat tiny Israel.
God wins, you lose. Israel is His land, and you satanic muslims won''''t overthrow it.
Posted by StopSocialis at 08:16 AM : Oct 18, 2008
Could YOU losers get your HEADS in the HERE and NOW! There most CERTAINLY are a People called "Palestinians" TODAY and we must deal with that. I mean it''s bad enough that we must deal with this war started on nothing but LIES but to have THIS kind of trash push into the debate is RIDICULOUS!
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Considering that the Bush administration claimed the invasion was all about "democracy", it shouldn''t oppose a national referendum to decide the matter.
http://www.rbooker.com/html/the_myth_of_palestine.html
Myths of the Middle East:
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/palestine.htm
European Jew Occupied Palestine will soon be returned to the Palestinians. Sorry for your luck.
Posted by wherenextnow at 07:03 AM : Oct 18, 2008
There never was a such people called "the Palestinians", and no amount of propaganda you sphew changes this.
Yasser Arafat''s propaganda doesn''t work on us Americans who know how to do research on the subject.
And as far as your claim that the Jews will no longer occupy Israel (not Palestine), good luck, it''s been 60 years and your Muslim jihadist friends still can''t defeat tiny Israel.
God wins, you lose. Israel is His land, and you satanic muslims won''t overthrow it.
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European Jew Occupied Palestine will soon be returned to the Palestinians. Sorry for your luck.
Gentile-Americans outnumber Jewish-Americans by about 50-to-1.
Gentile-Americans outnumber the world`s entire Jewish population by about 20-to-1.
Gentile-Americans outnumber "7 zionazi jews" by about 45,000,000-to-1.
So, Aunty Zion, you are claiming that Gentile-Americans are so weak, ineffective and limp-wristed that every one of them is in the control of an infinitesimal fraction of a Jew.
What a HUMILIATING admission for you to make!!!
But then, it`s only to be expected from a schickerer Yock like yourself.
- by antizion October 18, 2008 6:07 AM EDT
- The US will never recover from the damage done by the neocons and the puppet government that started this war and profited from it.
- Reply to this comment
See all 15 CommentsTwo people were sent to prison for hacking the ohio vote that put Bush in the white house. Now either two innocent people went to prison or Bush is not an elected president and the US is a dictatorship. You can''t have it both ways.
Joe the plumber is from the Wasilla Valley in Alaska and knows Sara Palin.
1. He is not a registered voter.
2. He does not have a required plumbers license.
3. He owes 1.1 million in taxes so paying taxes is obviously not an issue for him.
4. He earns far less than 200K per year - Far less.
5. And most important, he is marries to Keating''s daughter from the Keating 5 scandal. John McCain was on of the 5.
The corporate media is a joke. The first amendment to the constitution was freedom of the press. It was first because it was the most important.
The entire mass media of the US is controlled by 7 zionazi jews. If we had a free press that was not controlled by the CIA, none of this could happen.
McCain called the Kennedy assasination "the intervention" during the debate. How odd..