Iraq to offer U.S. long-term troop presence

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

The proposal is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence.

In Washington, President Bush's adviser on the Iraqi war, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, confirmed the proposal, calling it "a set of principles from which to begin formal negotiations."

As part of the package, the Iraqis want an end to the current U.N.-mandated multinational-forces mission, and also an end to all U.N.-ordered restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty.

In a televised address Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his government will ask the U.N. to renew the mandate for the multinational force for one final time, with its authorization to end in 2008.

Iraq has been living under some form of U.N. restriction since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Iraqi officials said. U.S. troops and other foreign forces operate in Iraq under a U.N. Security Council mandate, which has been renewed annually since 2003.

Members of Iraq's parliament were briefed on the plan during a three-hour closed-door meeting Sunday, during which lawmakers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr objected to the formula, which includes preferential treatment for American investments, according to the Iraqi officials involved in the discussions.

Such treatment could provide a huge windfall if Iraq can achieve enough stability to exploit its vast oil resources. The deal would also enable the United States to maintain leverage against Iranian expansion at a time of growing fears about Tehran's nuclear aspirations.

At the White House, Lute said the new agreement was not binding. "Think of today's agreement as setting the agenda for the formal bilateral negotiations," he said.

The Iraqi officials said that under the proposed formula, Iraq would get full responsibility for internal security and U.S. troops would relocate to bases outside the cities. Iraqi officials foresee a long-term presence of about 50,000 U.S. troops, down from the current figure of more than 160,000.

But the agreement, which Maliki and President Bush signed during a teleconference, also could impose some limits on how U.S. commanders could use those troops.

Maliki has been a frequent critic of U.S. military actions that have killed civilians and has said on numerous occasions that he believes Iraq doesn't need as many American troops as are in the country.

Under the current U.N. mandate, U.S. officials have the sole authority to decide how many troops are in Iraq and how they're used. U.S. military law governs the actions of those troops.

The agreement calls for a final, one-year extension of the U.N. mandate, which is to expire next month.

If the mandate is extended, the U.S. troop presence would be set in negotiations to be completed by July 31 -- about the same time that five combat brigades sent to Iraq under the Bush administration's "surge" are expected to have been withdrawn.

In 2005, Maliki, then a member of parliament, said the Security Council resolution authorizing the U.S. presence violated Iraqi sovereignty.

The Iraqi target date for a bilateral agreement on the new relationship would be July, when the U.S. intends to finish withdrawing the five combat brigades sent in 2007 by President Bush as part of the troop buildup that has helped curb sectarian violence.

11 in Iraqi journalist's

family killed

BAGHDAD -- Gunmen in Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood stormed into a house not far from an Iraqi police checkpoint and killed 11 members of an Iraqi journalist's family, witnesses and journalism organizations reported Monday.

Iraqi police and U.S. military officials said they had no record of the killings. But family members confirmed that the killings took place on Sunday in a neighborhood controlled by the Mahdi Army militia. The militia is loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

It was the third mass killing reported in Baghdad since Friday, underscoring the fragility of recent declines in violence. Car bombings on Friday and Sunday killed at least 22 people and injured 96 in the worst such attacks since September.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said American troops killed three people, including a child, Monday when they fired on a vehicle that failed to stop at a roadblock north of Baghdad. The incident occurred after U.S. forces had attacked suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members near the town of Bayji, killing four, a military statement said.

During that action, a vehicle failed to stop when soldiers signaled and fired warning shots. The soldiers then opened fire.

Sunday's killings revived fears that Iraqi security forces are in league with Shiite militias to carry out attacks. A family member who wasn't at the house when the attack occurred said neighbors told him the gunmen arrived in a Toyota Land Cruiser with no license plates and used explosives without drawing a response from an Iraqi police checkpoint nearby.

The killings came after the journalist, Dhia al-Kawaz, who edits a Web site from Amman, Jordan, that's frequently critical of militia groups, was warned to stop his work, said the family member, who asked to be identified only as Abu Mohammed. Kawaz was in Amman during the attack.

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