Al Maliki: Pact guarantees Iraq sovereignty

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki announced that Iraq which has overcome the risk of sectarian war is now facing a major challenge; that is to recuperate its sovereignty, rebuking the former regime which has left a deprived people and an isolated nation.
Al Maliki noted that the country has entered into hard negotiations that have sometimes reached a dead-end due to Iraqi negotiators’ unbending stand towards national sovereignty. He added that negotiators know they are held accountable by the people, stressing his keenness since the start of talks to engage constitutional institutions and political parties in negotiations.
Iraqi Prime Minister evoked intricate options that were ahead of Iraq namely extending UN mandate, remaining under UN Charter Chapter VII, settling for an incomplete sovereignty saying it was hard to enter into negotiations which main target is to regain full sovereignty.
Al Maliki regretted untrue statements by parties opposed to the agreement and others supportive thereof before reviewing the pact’s articles as well as accusations by some parties of negotiating behind the scenes which confuses the public.
Despite remarks on the agreement’s articles, Al Maliki noted that it constitutes a solid introduction to regain sovereignty within three years stressing that withdrawal will start end of June 2009 while troop reduction will pursue until all forces are withdrawn fully in 2011 affirming that Iraq will not be an arena to launch military operations on neighboring countries.
He noted as well that some parties want Foreign Forces to remain in Iraq for it serves their political maneuvers in completion to non-national targets adding that the time when dictators sign security agreement and launch wars without the people’s knowledge has ended. Source: www.alsumaria.tv