Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Bloomberg.com
October 21, 2008
By Ken Fireman, Bloomberg News
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there will be ``pretty dramatic'' consequences unless Iraqi politicians get behind a draft agreement allowing U.S. forces to operate there after Dec. 31.
``We basically stop doing anything'' in Iraq if there is no status-of-forces agreement or a renewed United Nations mandate for U.S. troops by the end of the year, Gates said in an interview. ``And going back to the UN at this point, there's no assurance that you'd get a clean rollover,'' he added.
Gates said there is ``great reluctance'' among U.S. officials to negotiate any changes in the draft text that is being reviewed by Iraqi leaders, even though some of those leaders are demanding modifications.
``I don't think you slam the door shut, but I would say it's pretty far closed,'' he said during an interview yesterday with Bloomberg News and two other news organizations at the Pentagon. ``What we have is what I would call a final draft.''
Gates, 65, also said President George W. Bush has ruled out closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center until Congress acts to bar inmates from emigrating to the U.S., something he said won't happen this year.
Gates's comments on the Iraq agreement, along with those of Admiral Michael Mullen, are likely to increase pressure on Iraqi leaders to approve the accord.
Mullen, Bush's top uniformed adviser as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said yesterday the Iraqis are ``running out of time'' to conclude an agreement and that they ``will not be ready to provide for their own security'' without U.S. help, the New York Times reported.
Iraq's Cabinet voted unanimously yesterday to seek unspecified modifications in the accord, Agence France-Presse reported from Baghdad. The deal must win approval from both the Cabinet and Iraq's parliament to take effect.
The agreement calls for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities by next June 30 and from the entire country by the end of 2011, while allowing those timelines to be extended by mutual consent.
It gives the U.S. legal jurisdiction over American troops and civilian government personnel accused of crimes while on-base or on-duty. Iraqi authorities would have jurisdiction over U.S. personnel accused of serious crimes while off-base or off-duty.
Some Iraqi Shiite leaders, such as cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, oppose the draft because they say it doesn't guarantee a U.S. pullout.
Gates rejected those criticisms. ``It's a good agreement,'' he said. ``It's good for us, it's good for them. It really protects Iraqi sovereignty.''
And he appeared to rule out an idea floated earlier of an informal agreement between the two governments to allow U.S. troops to remain if no formal accord was reached by year's end and the UN mandate wasn't extended.
``There are only two alternatives,'' he said.
On Guantanamo, the U.S. prison in Cuba for suspected terrorists, Gates said congressional action to block inmates from emigrating is essential before it can be closed.
``The last thing we want is any of these people coming to the United States,'' Gates said.
Gates has long advocated closing Guantanamo, located at a U.S. naval base, because of the damage it has done to America's image throughout the world. Gates said he still holds that view.
``It's probably one of the best-run prisons in the world today,'' he said. ``But the reality is, because of the past, it is a real liability for the United States. And my belief is the new administration and the new Congress ought to address this issue so that we can get past it and close it.''
October 21, 2008
By Ken Fireman, Bloomberg News
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there will be ``pretty dramatic'' consequences unless Iraqi politicians get behind a draft agreement allowing U.S. forces to operate there after Dec. 31.
``We basically stop doing anything'' in Iraq if there is no status-of-forces agreement or a renewed United Nations mandate for U.S. troops by the end of the year, Gates said in an interview. ``And going back to the UN at this point, there's no assurance that you'd get a clean rollover,'' he added.
Gates said there is ``great reluctance'' among U.S. officials to negotiate any changes in the draft text that is being reviewed by Iraqi leaders, even though some of those leaders are demanding modifications.
``I don't think you slam the door shut, but I would say it's pretty far closed,'' he said during an interview yesterday with Bloomberg News and two other news organizations at the Pentagon. ``What we have is what I would call a final draft.''
Gates, 65, also said President George W. Bush has ruled out closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center until Congress acts to bar inmates from emigrating to the U.S., something he said won't happen this year.
Gates's comments on the Iraq agreement, along with those of Admiral Michael Mullen, are likely to increase pressure on Iraqi leaders to approve the accord.
Mullen, Bush's top uniformed adviser as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said yesterday the Iraqis are ``running out of time'' to conclude an agreement and that they ``will not be ready to provide for their own security'' without U.S. help, the New York Times reported.
Iraq's Cabinet voted unanimously yesterday to seek unspecified modifications in the accord, Agence France-Presse reported from Baghdad. The deal must win approval from both the Cabinet and Iraq's parliament to take effect.
The agreement calls for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities by next June 30 and from the entire country by the end of 2011, while allowing those timelines to be extended by mutual consent.
It gives the U.S. legal jurisdiction over American troops and civilian government personnel accused of crimes while on-base or on-duty. Iraqi authorities would have jurisdiction over U.S. personnel accused of serious crimes while off-base or off-duty.
Some Iraqi Shiite leaders, such as cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, oppose the draft because they say it doesn't guarantee a U.S. pullout.
Gates rejected those criticisms. ``It's a good agreement,'' he said. ``It's good for us, it's good for them. It really protects Iraqi sovereignty.''
And he appeared to rule out an idea floated earlier of an informal agreement between the two governments to allow U.S. troops to remain if no formal accord was reached by year's end and the UN mandate wasn't extended.
``There are only two alternatives,'' he said.
On Guantanamo, the U.S. prison in Cuba for suspected terrorists, Gates said congressional action to block inmates from emigrating is essential before it can be closed.
``The last thing we want is any of these people coming to the United States,'' Gates said.
Gates has long advocated closing Guantanamo, located at a U.S. naval base, because of the damage it has done to America's image throughout the world. Gates said he still holds that view.
``It's probably one of the best-run prisons in the world today,'' he said. ``But the reality is, because of the past, it is a real liability for the United States. And my belief is the new administration and the new Congress ought to address this issue so that we can get past it and close it.''
