Things of note (Al-Jazeera) :
1. 9 of 37 members of the cabinet did not appear for the vote
2. “There was a positive position taken on the part of the larger blocs and all the most important blocs,” Dabbagh said.
“They all expressed a positive position because they consider it the best [agreement] possible, because it will manage and end the military presence and guarantee the complete withdrawal of the troops.”
NY Times
1. Still needs to be approved by the parliament.
2. Leaders of the largest blocs believe they have enough support to pass the pact
3. By June 30th, American forces must be out of all urban areas
4. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani: heavyweight shite cleric, played major role in pact
5. U.S. is prohibited from launching attacks on their neighbors (wtf!)
Opposition
Sadr: Shite cleric, anti-us forces, wants to reject the pact
Sunnis: afraid of shiites and Iran
2 Comments
November 17, 2008 at 5:51 pm
5. U.S. is prohibited from launching attacks on their neighbors (wtf!)
Simple, the Iraqis are just saying that we can’t use Iraq as a base of operations if there is a fight between us and Iran. Makes sense from their point of view. They would prefer not to refight the 80-88 Iran/Iraq war.
November 17, 2008 at 7:41 pm
from that viewpoint, I agree. Going to war in Iran would be a very very big mistake. On the flip side, this proclamation sounds a lot like what happened with the groups we were fighting in Vietnam; a short hop across the border and suddenly, whoops, you can’t come after us, suckers.
Compromise doesn’t really work in guerilla style warfare. It’s balls to the walls or don’t bother.