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Iraq
US troops under Iraq's authority for first time
2009-01-02
The U.S. military in Iraq falls under Iraqi authority on Thursday for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003, a milestone in the war-weary country's path to restoring sovereignty.

The U.S. force in Iraq, now more than 140,000 strong, has operated since 2003 under a U.N. Security Council resolution which expired at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Starting Jan. 1, troops will operate under the authority of the Iraqi government, according to a pact signed earlier this year by Washington and Baghdad.

" The role of the coalition forces (in the Green Zone) will be secondary, centered on training Baghdad brigade troops to use equipment to detect explosives and advising Iraqi forces "
Qassim Moussawi, spokesman of Iraqi forces in Baghdad
The pact gives U.S. troops three years to leave Iraq, revokes their power to detain Iraqis without an Iraqi warrant, and subjects contractors and, in some cases, U.S. troops to Iraqi law.

The new, tough terms of the U.S. presence here were secured by an increasingly confident Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, emboldened by a maturing democracy, military victories against Shiite militias and progress against al-Qaeda militants.

U.S. and Iraqi officials will hold a ceremony on Thursday morning to formally hand over control of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified Baghdad compound from which the United States governed Iraq directly for more than a year after the invasion.

"The role of the coalition forces (in the Green Zone) will be secondary, centered on training Baghdad brigade troops to use equipment to detect explosives and advising Iraqi forces," Qassim Moussawi, spokesman of Iraqi forces in Baghdad, said.
Posted by:Fred

#3  It's the deal we made, and not a bad one at all. We'll finish up in Iraq, and the new agreement makes it very difficult for Bambi to just up and pull out. Wait and see.
Posted by: Steve White   2009-01-02 08:33  

#2  Well, you expect the MSM or any other clown to understand the material they're dealing with? By law American forces are never subordinated. They coordinate, they cooperate, they work with, but they are never subordinated by an intervening command authority. By law there is an unbroken command authority between the private on the ground and the President of the United States.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2009-01-02 08:26  

#1  Oi George.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-01-02 06:25  

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