Security agreement to get Iraq out of Chapter 7
BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Prime Minister on Tuesday said signing the long-term security agreement with the U.S. would ensure his country’s removal from a UN mandate and release its frozen funds. “Signing the security agreement with the U.S. would release Iraqi frozen funds and ensure the country’s removal from the UN charter Seven” a government statement cited Iraqi PM saying during a reception with British foreign official Bill Rimmel and Ambassador Christopher Prentice in Baghdad.
Iraq was placed under the UN mandate after the invasion of Kuwait by the former regime of Saddam Hussein in 1991. The international body imposed the measures as they considered Iraq, then, as a source of threat to global peace. “The final approval of the security deal with the U.S. now lies with the parliamentary lawmakers,” al-Maliki stressed.
The Iraqi PM called for fostering the ties with the U.K., noting “Iraq is looking for U.K. experience in training Iraqi military forces and also for British firms to assist in the reconstruction projects.”
The U.S. and Iraq have been negotiating their own bilateral accord for months but have so far failed to seal the deal because of disagreements on whether American soldiers should be immune from Iraqi law when off-duty. London wants to use that accord as a blueprint for its agreement to cover the status of 4,100 troops — deployed largely in southern Iraq — but no sign of an end to the U.S.-Iraq deadlock has yet appeared British envoy Rimmel applauded the measures taken by the Iraqi government to impose security and stability according to announcement. He expressed “the readiness of British firms to take part in reconstruction projects in Iraq.” Earlier, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi PM, told The Times over the weekend that Iraq no longer needed British troops to provide security in the south.
Of Britain’s presence, he said, “We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control. There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues, but as a fighting force, I don’t think that is necessary.” About 4100 British troops help to train the Iraqi Army and Navy in the south, while a Special Forces unit in Baghdad is used to strike at al-Qaeda and militia targets. Gordon Brown said in July that next year would see a “fundamental change of mission” for the British military in Iraq.