I glanced at this headline, & it brought a smile to my face:

“US FAILS TO GET LONG TERM MILITARY DEAL WITH IRAQ”

Hooray!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy the Iraqis are refusing to sign “deals” that don’t include timelines for an exit.
What the hell kind of deals for prolonged war profiteering might Bush be trying to cut, as his presidential clock runs down?

WaPo reports:

“U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.

The failure of months of negotiations over the more detailed accord — blamed on both the Iraqi refusal to accept U.S. terms and the complexity of the task — deals a blow to the Bush administration’s plans to leave in place a formal military architecture in Iraq that could last for years.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his political allies have come under intense domestic pressure to reject any perceived infringement on Iraqi sovereignty. Maliki, who last week publicly insisted on a withdrawal timeline, wants to frame the agreement as outlining the terms for “Americans leaving Iraq” rather than the conditions under which they will stay.

The most contentious unresolved issue is the legal immunity of U.S. troops and Defense Department personnel from Iraqi prosecution for any alleged crime. “But even on that question, it’s one thing on immunity if in the Iraqi mind it’s an agreement for U.S. troops forever,” he said. “It’s another thing if these immunity arrangements are temporary because U.S. forces are temporary.”
Washington has acquiesced to Iraqi refusal to grant immunity to private contractors, an issue that is controversial because of incidents in which American security contractors have killed Iraqi civilians.

U.S. and Iraqi officials also hope the new, bare-bones agreement — called a “temporary operating protocol” in Washington and a “memorandum of understanding” in Baghdad.”

This must be music to the ears of the people of Iraq.
Limited immunity
Temporary US troop presence
NO long term contract

This REALLY is good news.
Those proposed negotiations or deals the Bush admin was trying to sell the Iraqis will probably never see the light of day in the public sector. I had feared Bushco would have pushed through some nightmarish, long term contract (The illegal occupation was now to be a contracted business deal), forcing the hand of the next US president to have to stay in a prolonged presence in Iraq. No deal!

It’s BAD news for the likes of Bush, the Oil Tycoons, War Profiteers, such as Blackwater & Halliburton- but that bad news is good news for humanity. Maybe even result in the shut down of the Gitmo prison.

Most of all, the Iraqis are drawing the line. They are not accepting more of the same- or maybe even worse.
They are most vested in having an exit timeline for the occupation to end. I have always believed Iraq will not begin to settle down & recover, until the US occupation ends.

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