Deputy premier discusses SOFA with U.S. official

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Deputy Prime Minister Rafie al-Issawi on Tuesday received U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden in his Baghdad-based office and discussed with him the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the two countries. The two officials discussed “the relation between Baghdad and Washington under the new U.S. administration, and means of boosting economic and service cooperation, as well as the U.S. military presence in light of the security pact made between the Iraqi and U.S. governments,” according to a statement released by Issawi’s media office and received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), approved by the Iraqi government in late 2008, establishes that U.S. combat forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and all U.S. forces will be completely out of Iraq by December 31, 2011, subject to possible further negotiations which could delay withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-2009 in Iraq which may require U.S. forces to completely leave by the middle of 2010. On Monday (12/1) afternoon, Biden arrived on a surprise visit to Iraq and met with Talabani and his deputy, Adel Abdelmahdi. Biden voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq but later became a critic of the war and the way in which President George W. Bush was executing it. He is best known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into self-governing Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish enclaves — an idea that offended many Iraqi politicians and was quietly put on the back burner as violence ebbed. SS (S) 1