Odierno, Responding to TWI, Pledges Support For The SOFA

This morning I got an email from a spokesman for Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, objecting to my characterization of him in my Clinton-confirmation-preview story as “appearing to indicate that More…

CLINTON CONFIRMATION: How to Leave Iraq in 16 Months?

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) wants to know: how to responsibly withdraw from Iraq in the 16-month timetable President-elect Barack Obama laid out during the primaries?

“In the context of the Status of Forces Agreement,” Clinton answers, conceding that “there are some differences in timing.” That’s an understatement: all U.S. forces More…

Zbigniew Bzrezinski Holds Forth on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Former Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Bzrezinski has moved far to the left over the past several decades — and in particular over the last eight years, when he’s become downright combative — and so today it’s interesting to hear him talk about four distinct but somewhat linked More…

Problems Both Semantic And Substantive With Respecting The SOFA

Something that really shouldn’t be ignored in any debate about honoring the Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq: some of its most basic terms are tremendously unclear. F’r instance: in a war without a front line, what’s the difference between a combat troop and an adviser?

Does the U.S. Intend to Honor the SOFA at All?

Over at Firedoglake, my friend and co-blogger Siun rounds up all the recent indications that the U.S. military command in Iraq is figuring out how to get around the Status of Forces Agreement’s restrictions of what it can’t do and when it has to get out.

Here’s what More…

What Does the Status of Forces Agreement Really Mean?

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by the U.S. and Iraqi governments demands the departure of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi towns and cities by July 2009 and the full departure of U.S. forces — not just combat forces, all U.S. forces — by Dec. 2011. This is More…

Dabbagh Says He Was Misquoted on Withdrawal From Iraq

On Friday I flagged a McClatchy story saying that Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh hinted that U.S. troops were needed in Iraq for seven years longer than the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) allows them to stay. Now, after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected that comment, Dabbagh is saying More…

Iraqi Gov’t Spokesman: U.S. Troops Needed for Maybe 10 Years

Maybe Eli Lake was right about this.

According to McClatchy, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has been up to some trifling stuff, saying in an interview in Washington that U.S. troops might be needed for another ten years, despite the Status of Forces Agreement’s provisions to end the More…

A Post-American Iraq, Or Not, Or Sort-Of?

In light of Iraq spokeman Ali al-Dabbagh’s vision of Iraq pushing the Middle East in a European Union-style direction of common markets, it’s striking just how little effort he devoted to mentioning a place for the U.S.

Now, a Middle Eastern E.U. is as ambitious as it is desirable, More…

Much Remains Unclear About the SOFA Referendum

In order to secure the passage of the Status of Forces Agreement, the Maliki government had to agree to a Sunni-driven demand for a popular referendum on speeding up the U.S. withdrawal from the country. Early reporting suggested that it could potentially kick the U.S. out by mid-2010. More…