THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY AUGUST 26 2008
NEWS
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Iraqi prime minister wants U.S. troops gone by 2011
Legal immunity for American troops primary issue in withdrawal holdup
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki dug in his heels Monday on the future of the U.S. military in Iraq, insisting that all foreign soldiers leave the country by a specific date in 2011 and rejecting legal immunity for American troops.
Last week, U.S. and Iraqi officials said the two sides agreed tentatively to a schedule that includes a broad pullout of combat troops by the end of 2011 with the possibility that a residual U.S. force might stay behind to continue training and advising Iraqi security services.
Despite the tough words, al-Maliki's aides insisted a compromise could be found on the two main stumbling blocks to an accord governing the U.S. military presence in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
But al-Maliki's remarks indicated his government was not satisfied with that arrangement and wants all foreign troops gone by the end of 2011.
That cast doubt on whether an agreement is near and suggested al Maliki is playing to a domestic audience frustrated by the war and eager for an end to the foreign military presence.
"There can be no treaty or agreement except on the basis of Iraq's full sovereignty," al-Maliki told a gathering of Shiite tribal sheikhs. He said an accord must be based on the principle that "no foreign soldier remains in Iraq after a specific deadline, not an open time frame."
Al-Maliki said the U.S. and Iraq had already agreed on a full withdrawal of all foreign troops by the end of 2011 — an interpretation that the White House challenged. Until then, the U.S. would not conduct military operations "without the approval" of the Iraqi government, al-Maliki said.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said negotiations with the Iraqis were continuing and repeated the U.S. position that the withdrawal must be linked to conditions in Iraq — a clear difference with al-Maliki's interpretation of what had been agreed.
Attacks and casualties down in Iraq
"Any decisions on troops will be based on the conditions on the ground in Iraq. That has always been our position and continues to be our position," Fratto said Monday in Crawford, Texas. "There is no agreement until there is an agreement signed."
High profile attacks in Iraq are down more than 70 percent from the peak in March 2007, while U.S. troops reached new lows.
Explosion attacks, May 2006 to May 2008
Fratto said the U.S. was "optimistic that Iraq and the U.S. can reach a mutual agreement on flexible goals" and allow "Iraqi forces to provide security for a sovereign Iraq."
Last month, however, Bush reversed course and agreed to set a "general time horizon" for bringing troops home, based on Iraq's ability to provide for its own security. But the Iraqis insisted they want a specific schedule.
U. S. troop deaths,
"We find this to be too vague," a close al-Maliki aide told The Associated Press on Monday. "We don't want the phrase 'time horizons.' We are not comfortable with that phrase," said the aide, who
President Bush has long resisted a timetable for removing troops from Iraq, even under strong pressure from an American public distressed by U.S. deaths and discouraged by the length of the war that began in 2003.
Dahuk Irbil Sulaimaniyah
SOURCES: Report to Congress on the Siliation in Iraq; AP News Research Center AP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
Another top al-Maliki aide, also speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the Iraqi government had "stopped talking about the withdrawal of combat troops. We just talk about withdrawals," including trainers and logistics troops.
officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, but the plan appeared in line with a U.S. strategy to turn urban security over to Iraqi police.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U. S. and Iraqi officials said last week they had agreed to remove American combat troops from Iraq's cities by next June, withdrawing to bases where they could be summoned if necessary. The
During his Monday address, al-Maliki also suggested the question of legal immunity for U.S. military personnel or contractors remains a sticking point in the negotiations.
The draft agreement provides that private U.S. contractors would be subject to Iraqi law but the Americans are holding firm that U.S. troops would remain subject exclusively to U.S. legal jurisdiction. The U.S. has ruled out allowing American soldiers to face trial in Iraqi courts.
Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, attends a tribal conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday no security agreement with the United States could be reached unless it included a "specific deadline" for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
But al-Maliki said his country could not grant "open immunity" to Iraqis or foreigners because that would be tantamount to a violating the "sanctity of Iraqi blood." He did not elaborate.
U. S. officials in Washington have privately expressed frustration over the Iraqi stand in the negotiations, which were supposed to have ended by July 31. The agreement must be approved by Iraq's factious 275-member parliament, where opposition to a deal is strong.
One of the al-Maliki aides said he believed language could be found to overcome differences over the withdrawal schedule but immunity was a tougher issue to resolve.
It appeared al-Maliki was seeking to bolster his nationalist credentials ahead of provincial elections late this year and a national ballot in 2009.
Al-Maliki's Shiite allies face a strong challenge from followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, long an opponent of the U.S. presence. The prime minister's strong statements in support of an end to immunity and for a firm withdrawal timetable would make it difficult for him to accept an agreement that falls short of his public demands.
In violence Monday, an American soldier was mortally wounded in a shooting attack on his foot patrol in north Baghdad, the U.S. military said. An Associated Press tally shows at least 4,147 U.S. military personnel have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003.
NEWS
Convention opens with Kennedy, Michelle Obama
DENVER — Democrats opened their national convention on Monday, seeking peace in the family as they pursue victory in the fall for Barack Obama and his historic quest for the White House.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An appearance by the ailing, aging Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and a prime-time speech by Obama's wife, Michelle, headlined the convention's first night.
Yet the opening gavel fell with Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton still struggling to work out the choreography for the formal roll call of the states that will make him — a 47-year-old senator bidding to become the first black president — the party nominee.
Florida delegates Wilma Silver, left, and Percy Johnson, front, dance as the delegation has some fun on the floor during the Democratic National Convention in Denver Monday.
"There is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is Barack Obama's convention," the former first lady told reporters. And yet, she said, some of her delegates "feel an obligation to the people who sent them here" and would vote
As the deli egates took their seats in the Pepsi Center, Obama campaigned in Iowa, the first in a string of swing states he is visiting en route to Colorado. He arranged to watch his wife's speech on television later from Kansas City, then speak briefly to the convention via a huge TV screen.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tropical storm Fay moves farther along Gulf coast
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The remnants of tropical storm Fay spread over a wide swath of the South on Monday, bringing heavy rain and wind from Georgia to Louisiana that many
ing more than 30 inches of rain along the central Atlantic coast. Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, dressed in blue jeans and a golf shirt, helped an elderly woman out of a boat that had taken her from her inundated home.
Floridians,meanwhile,continued to mop up floodwaters created by the storm that stuck around for a week and made a historic
hoped would help land parched for months by drought conditions.
"It just started raining and it didn't want to stop," said the.
four landfalls, dump-
woman, Hazel Hayes.
In Georgia, farmers began assessing damage to crops. The storm's high wind and torrential rain seemed to take the heaviest toll on Georgia's $128 million pecan crop, especially in southern counties along the Florida line, according to preliminary assessments. Pecan grower Tom Stone's well-tended orchards were in shambles.
The National Weather Service said the vestiges of Fay would deluge northern Georgia on Monday and Tuesday with 3 to 5 inches of rain expected in the Atlanta area and up to 8 inches in northeast Georgia. In Alabama, flash flood and tornado warnings were posted.
Broken coalition throws country into chaos
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The ruling coalition that just a week ago drove U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf from the presidency broke apart Monday, throwing Pakistan into political turmoil just as it faces an increasingly difficult fight against Islamic militants.
The collapse of the fragile alliance threw more power to Asif All Zardari, the widower of assassinated ex-leader Benazir Bhutto and a corruption-tainted former polo player who now becomes the front-runner to replace Musharraf.
Fulfilling a threat he made last week, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of the coalition after a dispute with Zardari over whether to restore the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry, who was ousted by Musharraf.
There was concern within Bhutto's party, the Pakistan People's Party, that such a restoration would lead to the prosecution of Musharraf — and perhaps even Zardari — and that a fight would weaken the government's ability to fight militants.
Sharif's withdrawal will cost Zardari and the PPP their majority in parliament. But Zardari is expected to rally support from allies and form a new government with the help of small parties.
Russia refuses to honor separate Georgia regions
TBILISI, Georgia — Russian lawmakers on Monday urged the Kremlin to recognize the independence of two separatist Georgian regions, heightening tensions with Georgia where the government said hundreds of Russian soldiers remained at checkcoints.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did not immediately respond to the unanimous votes in both houses of Russia's parliament, but he has said Moscow
would support whatever choice the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia make about their future status.
Western countries warned Moscow that recognizing the breakaway regions of Georgia, an allied nation pressing for NATO membership, would prompt international denunciation. The U.S. said Russian recognition "would be unacceptable."
"Russia needs to respect the territorial integrity of Georgia," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
But Medvedev signaled the criticism was of little concern to the Kremlin.
NATO needs Russia more than Russia needs NATO, Medvedev said, and it would be "nothing frightening" if the Western alliance were to sever all ties. NATO has suspended operations of the NATO-Russia Council over the Georgia crisis, which has broadened Europe's post-Cold War fault lines.
Endangered whales slow commercial Atlantic ships
WASHINGTON The government on Monday recommended a speed limit for commercial ships along the Atlantic coast, where collisions with the endangered right whale threaten its existence.
About 300-400 of the whales are left in the wild, and they migrate annually between their southeastern Atlantic breeding grounds to feeding areas off the Massachusetts coast, intersecting busy shipping lanes.
The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday the new limit, the first to be instituted on the East Coast for a marine creature, was needed to assure
its survival. The rule would set a speed limit of 11.5 miles per hour (10 knots) within 23 miles (20 nautical miles) of major mid-Atlantic ports and throughout the whale's breeding and feeding areas. The new regulation would cover ships 65 feet or longer and expire in five years if not renewed. Boats from federal agencies would be exempt.
"The bottom line is that this critically endangered species needs our help," said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, the agency's administrator.
But the latest version of the so-called ship strike regulation differs from a draft released more than a year ago that was delayed in part because of objections from Vice President Dick Cheney's office and White House economists over the accuracy of the science linking ship speed to whale deaths.
"NOAA's decision on these measures is based on the best data and scientific understanding available"; White House environmental adviser James L. Connaughton said Monday.
Infections in womb may trigger premature births
WASHINGTON — Infections may play a bigger role in premature birth than doctors have thought, says a new study that found almost one in seven women in preterm labor harbored bacteria or fungi in their amniotic fluid.
The research used specialized molecular testing to uncover microbes that ordinary methods miss, and thus uncovered more women with simmering infections than previously estimated.
Associated Press
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