|
|
|
Iraqi parliament won't pass US pact: Speaker Monday, August 25, 2008, (Amman) Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani said on Monday that the lawmakers will not approve a controversial military security pact on the status of US forces in the war-torn country. "What I understand is that the Iraqi parliament will not pass this agreement," Mashhadani told a news conference in Jordan's capital. "At this moment the Iraqi government and parliament are not ready for such a deal, which will face a lot of hurdles." Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said today Washington and Baghdad have agreed that there will be no foreign forces in his country after 2011, but the White House insisted there was no final agreement. Washington and Baghdad have for months been negotiating a controversial military security pact to decide the future of US-led foreign troops in Iraq once a UN mandate expires in December. "For those who think that it is important to keep foreign troops in Iraq, they have to find a way out for the agreement because the parliament will not approve it," Mashhadani said. "This agreement is important for Iraq's next generations and the future. I fail to see why we should rush to sign it." On Friday, the chief Iraqi negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud said that the security pact had been finalised by both the sides and already approved by US President George W Bush. courtesy |
