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| Iraq |
| Parliamentarians say sovereign condition to pass security pact |
| 2008-10-21 |
| BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Parliamentarians from different political blocs on Monday stipulated that the security agreement with the U.S. must respect Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, ruling out signing it without the Parliament’s approval. “Realizing the national agreement is necessary for the signing of the security agreement with Washington,” MP from the United Iraq Alliance (UIA) Abdul Hadi al-Hasani told Aswat al-Iraq, ruling out that the government passes the agreement without realizing he national consensus on it. He ruled out the possibility of the government signing any agreement that touches Iraq’s sovereignty, noting that authorizing the Parliament to accept or reject the pact asserts the government’s intention to have a national consensus on the agreement. The MP said that the government will not respond to any kind of pressures, highlighting that the main point which got the agreement by all Iraqis is lifting immunity on the U.S. soldier on Iraq’s territory. Taha al-Lahiebi, MP from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) said that his bloc would study the last draft of the agreement and give its opinion on it, noting that Iraq’s current status needs a country to protect it. For his part, Lawmaker from the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) Mouhsen al-Saadon told Aswat al-Iraq that the government is the only body who has the decision to sign the agreement. “The law and the constitution gives the government the right to sign international agreements,” he explained, explaining that the parliament’s role is to ratify them. Any deal must be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, the three-man Presidential Board, and critically, by the Council of Representatives. |
| Posted by:Steve White |