Premier meets U.S. official on security deal – source

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will meet John Negroponte, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, on Sunday evening to discuss a host of issues, according to a source close to the Iraqi cabinet. “The Iraqi-U.S. long-term security agreement will figure high on the meeting agenda,” the source told IraqiNews.com. The Iraqi and U.S. sides are negotiating a long-term security agreement that should outline the legal nature of the U.S. army’s presence in Iraqi territories by the end of this year, when the mandate given to the U.S. military in Iraq is scheduled to expire. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad had announced on Friday evening that Negroponte arrived on an unannounced visit to Iraq for talks with Iraqi officials on political, security and economic progress in Iraq. MH (P)/AmR 1