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Further details on the progress of the SoFA talks: a bit of leftover law from the Bremer/CPA days may allow the Iraqi parliament to set the terms for our troops to stay in the country. You have to give them credit: they sure have learned to play Washington-style politics in a hurry! (Maybe with some help from their neighbors to the east?)
TONY
HARRIS: The end game. That's right, the end game in
Iraq. Is that country ready to go it alone? Just last
hour we got word of a possible change in long-term
security talks with the United States.
Let's get right to Baghdad now and CNN's Michael
Ware.
Michael, what are you hearing?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Tony.
This is a potentially make-or-break moment for the
U.S. mission here in Iraq. And this is going to
directly impact on the presidential campaign. We're
going to start hearing -- needing to hear from the
nominees about this.
What we're seeing is the U.N. mandate allowing for
the presence of U.S. troops in this country --
allowing, authorizing the war -- is coming to an end.
The clock is ticking to the end of the year.
So Washington and Baghdad are trying to come to an
agreement to regulate the future presence of U.S.
troops during the next presidency. However, those
talks are stalled.
Iraqi prime minister came out this morning and said
they're virtually in deadlock. We know from one of
his aides that America this week presented a second
draft of the agreement. In principle, said the
Iraqis, if it's the same as the first, we're going to
reject it.
What we're also hearing from the Iraqi government is
that they may go it alone. Using a hangover snippet
of law left over from the original American
occupation authority of Paul Bremer, they could
create their own legislation in their own Congress or
parliament, and thereby dictate to America what U.S.
troops can and cannot do in this country, where they
can go, where they must stay, and how many you're
allowed to have.
So you may see the Iraqis taking over this war, and
you may see a lot of U.S. gains being drawn back --
Tony.
HARRIS: Michael, Michael, so let's take this apart a
bit.
So there is a possibility that the Iraqis may come up
with an agreement that essentially dictates terms of
U.S. forces presence in the country in terms of
numbers and responsibilities. Is there -- I know this
is all about a negotiation, but is there anything to
indicate -- well, have you heard any reaction from
the David Satterfields of the world to what you're
reporting now?
WARE: Well, I can't speak openly about background
conversations I've had with senior U.S. officials
involved in the negotiations, but I can tell you that
the American negotiators do accept that this option
of Iraq going it alone, passing its own laws, and
essentially jamming them down the throats of the next
president, is a legally viable option.
You can have an agreement within America or a country
has its own right to pass its own laws about other
troops in its country --
HARRIS: Michael, let me stop you there. Let me stop
you there.
WARE: -- and negotiators in Washington accept that.
HARRIS: To what extent is Iran -- because we know
there have been high-level visits, the highest level
visits between Iran and Iraq -- to what extent is
Iran dictating this new thinking by the Iraqis?
WARE: Well, put it this way, Tony: it's not quite
winner-takes-all high stakes poker here, but it's
very close to that. In many, many ways, the agreement
that Washington can make at all with Baghdad or the
legislation the Iraqis create, will tell you a lot.
It will be a barometer about whether Americans'
mission here, whether the Iraqi war is a victory or a
defeat.
Because depending on how this plays out, we could see
Iran secure the upper hand it's been trying to get
with influence in this country or whether America can
prevent that.
At stake is the arming, training and equipping of the
Iraqi security forces. Right now America does that.
The Iranians, for two years, have been saying, we're
more than ready to step in and do that instead of the
Americans.
The Iraqi intelligence services: one was created by
the CIA, today is still run by the CIA; the Iraqis
want that back and want to join it with the other
intelligence agency in this country supported by
Iran. What do you think that's going to do for
American influence in this country and what message
will it send to the region -- Tony.
HARRIS: You have given us a lot to think about,
Michael Ware in Baghdad this morning for us. Michael,
thank you.