BAGHDAD ? Iraqi lawmakers say the U.S. is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed "status of forces" agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely.
Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties said in a series of interviews that the Iraqi government rejected this proposal, along with another U.S. demand that would effectively hand over the power to determine whether a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq. Lawmakers said they fear this power would drag Iraq into a war between the U.S. and Iran.
"The points that were put forth by the Americans were more abominable than the occupation," said Jalal al Din al-Saghir, a leading lawmaker from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. "We were occupied by order of the Security Council," he said, referring to the 2004 resolution mandating a U.S. military occupation in Iraq at the head of an international coalition. "But now we are being asked to sign for our own occupation. That is why we have absolutely refused all that we have seen so far," he said.
Other conditions sought by the U.S. include control over Iraqi airspace up to 30,000 feet and immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops and private military contractors. The agreement would run indefinitely but be subject to cancellation upon two years of notice from either side, lawmakers said.
"It would impair Iraqi sovereignty," said Ali al-Adeeb, a leading member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party. "The Americans insist so far that it is they who define what is an aggression on Iraq and what is democracy inside Iraq ... if we come under aggression we should define it, and we ask for help," al-Adeeb said.
Both al-Saghir and al-Adeeb said the Iraqi government rejected the terms as unacceptable.
They said the government wants an American presence and a U.S. security guarantee but wants to control security within the country, stop indefinite detentions of Iraqis by U.S. forces and have a say in U.S. forces' conduct in Iraq.
At present, the U.S. operates out of about 30 major bases, not including smaller facilities such as combat outposts, according to a U.S. military map.
Al-Maliki returned Monday from his second visit to Iran, whose Islamic rulers are adamantly opposed to the accord. Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after meetings with al-Maliki that Iran had "no doubt that the Americans' dreams will not come true."
Congress has also demanded a say in the agreement, but the Bush administration says it is planning to make this an executive accord, not subject to Senate ratification.
Neither of the two likely presidential contenders, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had any immediate comment on the talks, hoped for completion in July, under way in Baghdad.
The Bush administration conceded for the first time that it may not finish the agreement before a new president takes office.
A senior administration official close to the talks said it is "very possible" the U.S. may have to extend the existing U.N. mandate that expires at the end of the year.
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