Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Tuesday that "bold political decisions" will be needed to approve a deal to extend the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq past the end of this year.
For months, U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have struggled to reach a security agreement that would replace a United Nations mandate, set to expire Dec. 31, that authorizes the presence of U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. The Iraqi government has said that any deal would set in place a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011, unless conditions on the ground require U.S. forces to stay longer at the Iraqi government's invitation.
A major sticking point has been whether U.S. troops would remain immune from prosecution for non-combat-related crimes committed on Iraqi soil. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has argued that as a sovereign government it should have jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers, a demand that U.S. military commanders strongly oppose.
Without providing specifics, Zebari said that "new ideas, new formulations and new language" have been hammered out on the issue of legal jurisdiction and immunity that could be acceptable to Iraqi lawmakers. The agreement must be approved by Iraq's parliament. But Zebari cautioned that "no final decision has been made."
The Iraqi government is under strong pressure from neighboring Iran as well as nationalist groups inside Iraq to not sign a long-term security agreement with the United States. Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has launched weekly protests after Friday prayers to denounce any impending deal.
Judge rules Uighurs must be released from Guantanamo
A federal judge Tuesday ordered that 17 Chinese Muslims held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison be released into the United States by Friday, agreeing with the detainees' lawyers that the Constitution bars holding the men indefinitely without cause.
It was the first time that a U.S. court has ordered the release of a Guantanamo detainee, and the first time that a foreign national held there has been ordered brought to the United States.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued the landmark ruling in the case of a small band of captives, known as Uighurs, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years and are no longer considered enemy combatants by the U.S. government.
At a hearing packed with Uighurs who live in the Washington area, Urbina rejected government arguments that he had no authority to order the men's release. He said he had such authority because the men were being held indefinitely and it was the only remedy available. He cited a June decision by an appellate court that found evidence against the Uighurs to be unreliable.
Urbina said in court that he ordered the release "because the Constitution prohibits indefinite detention without cause." He added, "The separation of powers do not trump" the prohibition against holding people indefinitely without trial.
A government appeal of the decision is likely.
Obama outspends McCain on TV time
Barack Obama is outspending John McCain at nearly a three-to-one clip on television time in the final weeks of the presidential election, according to ad buy information obtained by washingtonpost.com's "The Fix" column. That edge is almost certainly contributing to the momentum for the Illinois senator in key battleground states.
From Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, Obama spent more than $20 million on television ads in 17 states including more than $3 million in Pennsylvania and more than $2 million each in Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. McCain in that same time frame spent just $7.2 million in 14 states. Even when the Republican National Committee's independent expenditure spending in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin is factored in (a total of $5.3 million), Obama still outspent the combined GOP forces by roughly $8 million in the last week alone.
The spending edge enjoyed by Obama has been used almost exclusively to hammer McCain as both a clone of the current president and someone who is out of touch on key domestic issues - most notably the economy. The assertion of Obama's spending edge has coincided with the collapse of the financial industry and a refocusing by voters on the economy to turn the election from a toss up to one in which the Democratic candidate has moved into a discernible lead.
While the struggles of McCain and his party over the Wall Street bailout bill that passed Congress last week after much sturm und drang have been well documented, the practical political impact of Obama's decision to forego public financing for the general election and McCain's choice to accept the $84 million in public funds has not been as fully explored.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
