BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Parliament yesterday rejected for a second time a draft law allowing foreign troops from countries other than the United States, including Britain, to remain after the end of the year, lawmakers said.
The draft law, which was rejected in a voice vote, would allow all foreign troops other than Americans to stay in Iraq until the end of July. It was drafted by the government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
It was also rejected earlier in the week and is expected to be brought for another vote after Christmas, when it is expected to be approved in the third and final reading.
A separate agreement approved by the Iraqi government on Dec. 4 allows the US to retain troops in the country until the end of 2011. That agreement, which takes effect Jan. 1, gives Iraq strict oversight over the nearly 150,000 American troops now in the country.
“Voting was carried out in Parliament on the draft law and it was rejected and turned back to the government,” Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said. “The law calls for troops to withdraw in a six-month period and they want legal coverage for their stay. So why refuse it?”
Those opposed to the draft law were primarily lawmakers loyal to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr. Britain will withdraw its 4,000 troops by the end of May.
After the Dec. 31 expiration of the UN mandate authorizing military operations in Iraq, the only coalition troops to remain will be the US, Britain, Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania. Australia has the largest force among the last four countries with 1,000 troops, followed by Romania with 501, El Salvador with 200 and Estonia with 40.
Officials’ arrests
Also yesterday, conflicting reports arose over the release of nearly two dozen Iraqi officials and whether their arrests were related to accusations of conspiring to bring back Saddam Hussein’s banned Baath party.
National Security Minister Sherwan Al-Waili told The Associated Press that 19 men were still being held. The arrest order had originally included 23 officials, but four were not detained.
But Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani insisted for a second day that the men, some of whom were from his ministry, had been released. The director of Al-Bolani’s office, Ahmed Jaleel, reiterated yesterday that news of the release “is right.” And security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were close to the investigation, said none of the men had been released. It was unclear why the two ministers were offering contradictory accounts about whether the men were still in detention.
Late Friday, Al-Bolani said the investigating judge ordered the officials released “because they are innocent” of allegations they were trying to restore the Baath party.
