US-Iraq security pact unlikely by July 31: report

New York, June 16 (PTI) The Bush administration's "dream"
of reaching a long-term security agreement with Iraq by July
31 is unlikely to be achieved, according to a report.

Discussions among Iraqi politicians may take weeks and
more likely months before the agreement is completed, the New
York Times reported, citing people close to negotiations.

Washington wants it to be completed before Democratic
convention in August but the Iraqis have their own election
law to complete for their elections in the fall and that shows
a tight deadline.

"None of the articles have yet been agreed to," the daily
quoted Fouad Massoun, a Kurd who is involved in the
discussions, as saying. "The negotiations are in the primary
stage."

The agreement will regulate the relationship between the
American military and the Iraqis after the expiration at the
end of the year of a United Nations mandate authorising the
presence of foreign troops in the country.

The latest draft of the new bilateral agreement offered
by the Americans made some significant concessions but in
several important areas did not move close enough to Iraqi
demands, the paper said.

The overarching question, the report said, is how much
control Iraq will have over the activities of the American
military on Iraqi soil.

The Americans have said they will allow civilian
contractors to be held accountable under Iraqi law, Mahmoud
Othman, a member of the Political Council for National
Security, told the paper.

He said they had also agreed to hand over to the Iraqis
people captured by American soldiers and accused of crimes.
Such detainees are now held in American facilities. They will
also transfer suspects already held in American detention
centres to the Iraqis, Othman said.

But there are now roughly 21,000 detainees in American
custody and the Iraqis do not have facilities for them, and it
would not be easy for Americans to hand over their detention
centres at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca to the Iraqis, the
report said.

The Iraqis appear to have agreed to allow the Americans
to continue to control their airspace because the Iraqis lack
the extensive flight control expertise and equipment
necessary, Othman and another member of the Political Council
for National Security told the paper.

Another reason the Iraqis believe it will take some time
to complete a pact is that they have been visiting others'
countries with American bases, to look at their security
agreements. The Iraqis want to hire European and American
legal consultants to review those and their own proposed
security agreement with the Americans.