By Xinhua,
Baghdad : As the ongoing negotiation framing the Iraqi-U.S. future relations is moving toward its deadline, concerns are growing among the Iraqis that their sovereignty and interests would fall a victim to the agreement.
No details of the planned pact have been announced, although the two sides originally intended to end the work by the end of July.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki signed in November set of principles aimed at reaching an agreement to replace the UN mandate concerning the U.S. operation in Iraq.
Among the issues worrying the Iraqis are how long the U.S. troops will be staying in Iraq and what their future status will be.
“We call on the Iraqis who are taking part in the negotiations with the Americans to safeguard the integrity of Iraq, its wealth and sovereignty,” Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, major Sunni bloc in the Iraqi parliament, told Xinhua on Thursday.
Dulaimi said that the agreement “would not be ready by July as scheduled” because there are many issues to be discussed in this agreement.
British newspaper the Independent reported Thursday that the U.S. intends to keep more than 50 military bases, maintain the right of carrying out arrests and conducting military operations without consultation with the Iraqi government.
Washington also wants U.S. soldiers and contractors to enjoy legal immunity, the newspaper said.
Last Sunday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that the two sides had different visions of the pact, and the negotiation was still in an early stage.
He maintained that the Iraqi government “stressed preservation of Iraq’s territorial, maritime and aerial sovereignty along with its internal and external affairs.”
Earlier this week, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a powerful Shiite cleric heading the leading Shiite party Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, met with revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Al-Hakim told reporters after the meeting that Sistani raised four conditions as pillars for the establishment of the agreement: safeguarding the sovereignty of Iraq, transparency, approval of the Iraqi people and the need to submit the details of the deal to the parliament.
Anti-U.S. Shiite religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr has uttered his strong opposition, calling on his followers in Iraq to stage weekly demonstrations against the envisaged document.
A U.S. military presence here also concerns Iran, which fears its Shiite neighbor would be used as a launch pad in possible strikes by Washington.
The U.S. accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and supporting Iraq’s Shiite militias. Tehran denies those charges while rebutting that the stationing of U.S. troops in Iraq brought instability to the country as well as the region.
Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which came into power with the help of the U.S. and has considerable relations with Iran, does not want the two sides to turn Iraq into an arena for settling their feud.
Hassan al-Seneid, a lawmaker of the leading Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, told Xinhua Thursday that premier Maliki will be traveling to Iran, Jordan and Turkey to make clear that Iraq will not be used for launching attacks against its neighbors.