Key al-Qaeda leader killed; Iraq inches closer to security pact with US; Ayatollah Ali Sistani sets conditions for concluding SOFA
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  • According to the US military sources, the Iraq’s key al-Qaeda leader Abu Qaswarah @ Abu Sara has been killed during an operation in the northern city of Mosul on October 5. The slain militant had close ties with senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US forces have mounted many attacks this year against suspected al-Qaeda members in Mosul, which they describe as one of the group's last strongholds in Iraq1.

    Iraqi government spokesman announced that Iraqi negotiators are reviewing a revised draft of a long-delayed security agreement to govern the conduct of American forces in Iraq. The announcement that there is a new draft, while far from final, indicates that the Iraqis are inching closer to final approval. The spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the draft includes a previously discussed timeline for the withdrawal of American combat troops, with the troops moving out of Iraq’s cities and towns by the middle of next summer and leaving the country in 2011. The Iraqis did not provide details about the language of the draft, and it is unclear whether it says the pullout would be based on conditions on the ground. The draft also includes provisions on another knotty issue — whether American soldiers would have immunity from Iraqi law. Senior Iraqi officials said the draft language would give Americans immunity from Iraqi law when they were on military operations but would not apply if they were off duty. The American government does not view the draft as a final product because it remains subject to approval by three political bodies: the Political Council for National Security, the cabinet and the Parliament. The neighboring countries, especially countries like Syria and Iran that have limited or no diplomatic relations with the US, view the American troop presence as interference in the region2.

    In another development, Javad Taleb, advisor of former Iraqi Premier Ebrahim Jafari, told that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the source of emulation of Iraq’s majority Shiite community has set one of the main conditions for concluding a security deal accord between Iraq and the US. He has called for revoking the clause that grants judicial immunity to US forces and demanded American forces who commit crimes in Iraq be tried in Iraqi courts. He added in the meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Ayatollah Sistani, the boundaries acceptable to the top religious authority and the Iraqi nation in relation to the controversial Stats of Forces Agreement (SOFA) were determined. In the meeting three main prerequisites were set as Iraq’s red lines. One was revoking the issue of capitulation. The other sets 2011 as the final and nonnegotiable deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and finally, non-interference of Americans in Iraq’s internal affairs3.

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