Iraq sovereignty or US security

The main players in Iraq’s political arena believe that the most important national and transnational challenge of the country is the security deal with the US. All these players have reacted to the deal and proposed arguments on its Whats and Whys. Undoubtedly, the US needs this security deal to find legal basis and justify its presence in Iraq. Political exploitation of the deal in the time of the imminent Iraqi elections is another reason why the US needs the deal.  At the same time, the Iraqi government wants to see itself out of the 7^th article of UN charter and put an end to the state of emergency in Iraq. Having the sovereignty over Iraqi properties and security leadership and nullification of the authority given to the occupying power are other goals pursued by the Iraqi government. In such circumstances, the security deal arises many questions and requires deep reflections. The security deal consists of 27 articles and 4 main sections. The most important points of disagreement on the deal are: 1) The judicial immunity and its conditions 2) The US exit timeline. The Iraqis believe that by the year 2011 all the forces should leave the country but the Americans want the exit to be dependent on the conditions in Iraq.

In Iraq, the Kurds support the security deal in national or mutual terms. The Sunnis oppose the deal and consider it threatening for their positions and rights. Many Shi’as also oppose the deal and do not approve of the continuity of occupation. But some groups in the Shi’a government and its political affiliates have a reformist approach to the security deal which needs close attention and reflection. On the whole, one can say that the current political groups in Iraq either want an end to the discussions on the security deal or they approve of a policy of procrastination or modification towards it.

Nowadays, Iraq has become the stage of a serious competition between the pros and cons of the US presence and somehow it has led to a sovereignty and independence crisis for Iraq. The most important point of discussion in this regard and the main reason for that competition is the Capitulation or judicial immunity. Till now, many Iraqi groups have succeeded in employing a policy of procrastination and modification to the deal. In this way, they have resisted the Americans’ tendency to exploit the security deal in the time of elections. At the same time, the main challenging parts of the deal which are in contrast to the Iraqi sovereignty are still the points of discussion and no agreement has been reached on them. Anyhow, the legalization process of the agreement requires references to the new laws and a modification of Iraqi parliament regulations. The Americans are trying to lobby their own will via political power groups and the Iraqi presidential council to break away from the legal process. They have even talked about possible coup d’etats n Iraq and have used this leverage in their literature of threat and bribing. In the meantime, the Iraqi government is exploiting other illegal leverages for bargaining but a great part of Iraqi political parties and tribes are trying to get help from religious leadership and the public to resist that will.

But the US government is bound to legitimize its presence in Iraq in every possible way and this has led to a very complicated crisis over Iraqi sovereignty and independence. The players of the Iraqi political stage-like Iran, the US, and the Arab countries- are looking closely to the events unfolding in Iraq and the Americans -whose proposed slogan in Iraq was stability, security, nation making and state making- are now pursuing their own will of staying in Iraq.

In the meantime, Iran and the US who had found unexpected common interests in Iraq and Afghanistan, have now become serious rivals and the divergence of their interests in the region would have serious outcomes in the future. The aspects of the security deal will not be in Iraq’s advantage and will soon become challenging to the Iraqi interests and independence. Maybe the only way out of this mess is through religious leadership and political and social movements inside Iraq.