Thursday, November 27, 2008
AFP - Friday, November 28BAGHDAD, (AFP) - - Iraqi lawmakers struggled on Thursday to assemble a commanding majority to approve a wide-ranging US military pact held up by Sunni demands for greater amnesty for Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
The 275-member assembly, mired in 11th hour horse-trading, failed on Wednesday to approve the accord, which would require all US troops to withdraw by the end of 2011, bringing an end to the 2003 invasion that toppled the dictator and plunged the country into violent sectarian chaos.
The governing Shiite bloc was struggling to cobble together a vast majority to approve the pact amid Sunni and Kurdish demands for domestic political reforms and the holding of a popular referendum on the pact next year.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the negotiations would continue Thursday, with a meeting between MPs from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the governing Shiite bloc, and the National Concord Front, the main Sunni bloc.
"There are some parties expecting benefits from the situation. The government is ready to listen to all the specific demands, but without undermining the constitution," Dabbagh told AFP.
"Concerning the de-Baathification, it is in the constitution, and you cannot cancel it," he said, referring to the controversial Justice and Accountability Law that gave differing degrees of amnesty to most former Baathists.
A senior Shiite MP said negotiators had addressed most of the Sunni demands but could not budge on their call for the repeal of the law.
"The United Alliance will propose a new document today that does not differ much from the document advanced by Concord," said MP Ali al-Adeeb.
"The difference between them has to do with a demand from the first document, which clearly pointed to the cancellation of the Justice and Accountabiliy Law," he said.
Saddam's Baath Party was banned by Iraq's US occupiers in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and hundreds of thousands of party members -- disproportionally drawn from the Sunni community -- lost their jobs.
It was hoped that the bill passed in February would appease embittered former Baathists, many of whom have joined the ranks of the insurgency against US and Iraqi forces, but Sunnis slammed the law as not going far enough.
The government on Wednesday accepted the Sunni bloc's other main demand and agreed to hold a referendum on the pact seven months after it comes into force.
"The referendum is not a problem. There will be a vote on July 30. The only thing is that the referendum needs a law, because it needs to be regulated," Dabbagh said.
Iraq and the United States have held marathon negotiations over the past 11 months in a bid to nail down an agreement to govern some 150,000 US troops in over 400 bases when their UN mandate expires on December 31.
The accord includes a firm timetable for withdrawal that would have US troops leave all Iraqi cities and towns by the end of June and withdraw completely by the end of 2011.
The White House also said it was still hopeful the accord would be approved.
"It's good for both Iraq and the United States, and so we'll keep an eye on what they are doing and hopefully they'll be able to get it across the goal line," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Wednesday.
The pact has the support of the UIA, the Kurdish alliance and a number of independent MPs -- enough for it to pass with slightly more than the requisite simple majority of 138 votes.
But the Shiite-led government was hoping to assemble a broader coalition in support of the pact, which was approved by Iraq's cabinet more than a week ago.
Iraq won a number of concessions in the deal, including a hard timeline for withdrawal and veto power over virtually every operation launched by US forces once the agreement takes effect, according to the Arabic version of the pact.
The English version has not been made public, and US officials in Washington have said there may be a dispute between the two sides over the interpretation of certain parts of the agreement.
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