[NYTr] By video Conference (!) US, Iraq sign plan for long-term relations

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Comical. The "deal" that al Maliki and Bush have cooked up was
"signed by video conference" today. Talk about virtual reality. Let's
all remember that a similar "deal" for "long-term relations" was in
existence when General Giap marched to Saigon and essentially had to
hold his army back for three days to give the heffalump Yanquis time to
pull their bacon out of the frying pan by chopper. -NY Transfer]

Earlier article from AP, Nov 26, 2007:

Bush Signs New "Deal" with Iraq "Govt" that Sees "Long-term US Presence"
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071126/072165.html


CNN - Nov 26, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/26/us.iraq.ties/index.html

U.S., Iraq sign plan for long-term relations 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi leaders signed a plan for bilateral
relations, setting the stage for formal negotiations about the
long-term presence of American troops in Iraq.

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday
signed the nonbinding agreement via video conference.

The plan is based on a more informal agreement between the United
States and Iraq that was developed in August and discussed in September
during a nationwide address by the president.

The joint statement is called the "U.S.-Iraq Declaration Of Principles
For Friendship And Cooperation" -- which the document says would move
both countries "closer to normalized, bilateral relations."

"Today's document is now the first of a three-step process that
actually codifies this mutual decision for a long-term partnership,"
said Gen. Douglas Lute, assistant to the president for Iraq and
Afghanistan, speaking to reporters at a press briefing.

The next step would be the renewal of a U.N. mandate for the
Multinational Force-Iraq's mission for a final year and a bilateral
military relationship without U.N. restraints after the mandate
expires. The renewals have been done yearly since 2003 and the next
renewal is expected by the end of this year.

Al-Maliki said on Iraqi TV on Monday that Iraq will ask the United
Nations to approve the mandate for one final year, a period that will
last through 2008. He said negotiations based on the declaration will
start as soon as possible.

Iraq has been under U.N. constraints since the Saddam Hussein era and
the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Iraq wants to be free of those
restrictions since Hussein is no longer in power.

Lute said that "in the course of 2008, the two countries, the United
States and Iraq, will codify formally our bilateral relationship with,
as we're calling it, the strategic framework agreement. Today's
declaration outlines the main parts of what we expect that emerging
agreement to contain."

 He said the document is not a treaty, but instead a "set of principles
from which to begin formal negotiations. Think of today's agreement as
setting the agenda for the formal bilateral negotiations that will take
place in the course of '08."

The declaration says this process would put the United States and Iraq
"on a path toward negotiating agreements that are common throughout the
world."

"The U.S. has security relationships with over 100 countries around the
world, including recent agreements with nations such as Afghanistan and
former Soviet bloc countries," it says.

The bilateral relationship would also address military, political,
diplomatic, and economic spheres.

The declaration's security principles call for supporting "the Iraqi
government in training, equipping, and arming the Iraqi Security Forces
so they can provide security and stability to all Iraqis."

It also calls for supporting the Iraqi government "in contributing to
the international fight against terrorism."

Both countries say they are "committed to strengthening Iraq's
democratic institutions, upholding the Iraqi Constitution, supporting
Iraqi national reconciliation, and enhancing Iraq's position in
regional and international organizations."