Iraqi and American officials are busy with the joint security agreement known as SOFA (status of forces agreement). Thetwo sides are working hard to win as much as possible in the negotiations and to lose as little as possible.
I'm talking about politicians as if they are the masters and people of the two countries are no more than slaves who the leaders think they can sell and buy. I dont know why politicians are always think they have brilliant golden brains while people have damaged rusty copper brains which can do nothing but obey the great masters. Why American politicians think they can keep thousands of American soldiers in Iraq away from their families while the politicians enjoy the days and nights with their families, going to parties or on vacation?
On the other hand, I don't understand why our Iraqi politicians think they can serve my country by tying it to such an agreement with the U.S., since they have failed in making any progress during five full years since the invasion and they will never get meaningful progress because they are not real politicians.
Guys, you brought enough pain and sadness to our poor countries--both the Americans and the Iraqis. I think it's time for you to step aside and let people decide. Americans and Iraqis
must decide through a referendum whether they want this SOFA which which is full of nails and thorns.
If Iraq is to accept such a package of scorn, let it because we ourselves voted, democratically, for such an agreement.
The supreme, self-serving, sovereign commander considers the agreement to be an "executive accord" and refuses to submit it to Congress, as law and tradition dictate, because he knows that it would never be ratified
as such. Another neat 'signing statement' trick!
From an Iraqi perspective it is deeply humiliating. In one fell swoop, it neuters Iraq's national sovereignty, something of no less pride and importance to Iraqis than it is to Americans.
This, slight of hand, is being negotiated by David Satterfield, the US State Department's top adviser on Iraq, who still confidently maintains it can be initialed by a July.
Perhaps, to make the deal fair, we could give Iraq 50 bases within the U.S. from with to anonymously launch operations with absolute impunity.
Peace, Best Wishes and Hope
Posted by: zeitgeist | July 10, 2008 at 02:44 PM