Iraqi Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has an unenvious job. He has to keep the Americans as well as his countrymen happy. Lately there have been increasing voices in the Iraqi parliament against any deal with the US to enable its forces to continue staying in Iraq after the UN mandate ends. That is why Maliki is hoping for a memorandum of understanding with the Americans rather than a deal. He need not have to take the MOU to the country’s parliament.
Moreover for the first time the PM has asked for a clause about a timetable for ending US military presence in Iraq. This clearly points to the increasing dislike to continued US presence amongst Iraqis. Maliki had to make the demand to safeguard his political interests.
The Americans are not clearly not happy. They do not want any timetables. Bush is clearly against any talk of withdrawal till the US is sure that Iraq is stable. But Maliki does keep making defiant statements from time to time for public consumption. Like he had said earlier,
We have reached a deadlock because, when we started these talks, we found that the US demands hugely infringe on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this we can never accept.
The Iraqi-US talks have run into rough weather over another issue too; the ‘Blackwater’ type security consultants. The Iraqis want them accountable to them. The Americans want them to be above the purview of the Iraqis. Because of these issues the talks are stalled for now.
Source: Al Jazeera
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