Hopes on US-Iraqi security deal shattered

Hopes on completing the security agreement with the United States and approving it in the meeting of the political council for national security have caved in as the council failed to ratify the security draft, which has raised doubts about whether it can survive without new negotiations. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari had made a firm announcement earlier on Saturday saying that the present draft is final and is unlikely to be reopened in Parliament.
At the end of the long meeting of the political council, the Iraqi government made an effort to declare that the pact was not yet dead, however, not approving it has brought up questions.
“They just finished the meeting and they did not take a decision on the pact because some groups had reservations. The leaders were still hesitant to approve or reject the deal”, Cabinet spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said adding that only the main Kurdish groups supported the pact without reservations.
He clarified that among the issues raising doubts at the meeting were details of a mechanism to let Iraq try U.S. troops for crimes. Al Dabbagh noted that the pact should still be passed to Iraq’s cabinet for approval later this week, adding that the cabinet's decision could reflect the leaders’ reservations which might hinder the approval of the agreement.
In a related issue, the Unified Coalition Party called to amend some articles of the security agreement. The Coalition Party voiced its stand following a detailed display by Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki on the articles of the final agreement. According to a statement by the party, the Coalition called following a meeting in the office of head of Coalition Party Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim to amend some articles of the agreement noting however that some points of the deal are positive while others need further consideration.

Source: www.alsumaria.tv