Iraq approves security deal with US; 13 dead in attacks

Baghdad- Iraq's cabinet approved the final version of a security pact with the United States on Sunday as violence continued, with 13 killed and 21 injured in two bomb attacks. A file photograph dated 16 September 2008, shows Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) receiving US Admiral Mike Mullen (L) chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at his office in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's cabinet approved the final version of a security pact with the United States on 16 November 2008 as violence continued. EPA/IRAQI PRIME MINISTER OFFICE

A file photograph dated 16 September 2008, shows Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) receiving US Admiral Mike Mullen (L) chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at his office in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's cabinet approved the final version of a security pact with the United States on 16 November 2008 as violence continued. EPA/IRAQI PRIME MINISTER OFFICEThe draft was endorsed by 27 of the 28 cabinet members at an emergency cabinet session, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told a press conference. He said the pact was not ideal but it is the best possible option for Iraq. The pact establishes the legal basis for the presence of US soldiers in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at end of this year. The US and Iraq had reached agreement on the sticking point of how US troops could be made accountable for crimes committed while off duty in Iraq, al-Dabbagh said. Two committees - one representing Iraq and the other, the US - would be established to judge if those involved should be tried by Iraqi or US authorities, he explained. Iraq had wanted US troops accused of crimes to be judged according to Iraqi law, while the US had argued they should be handed to US authorities for trial. The draft agreement includes 31 articles and calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and from the entire country by the end of 2011. The draft is to be sent to Iraq's 275-member parliament for approval before it is signed. US officials last week responded to Iraqi demands for changes in the text, saying it was final and that it was up to the Iraqis to push the process further. Tarik Al-Hashemi, Iraq's Sunni vice president, however, said Saturday that the US made 'additional modifications' to the draft in response to a request by President Nuri al-Maliki. Iraq also secured the change in the name of the agreement from the Status of Forces Agreement to Withdrawal of US Forces Agreement. It had also demanded the removal of any language from the text that might allow US troops to remain in Iraqi cities after December 31, 2011, and assurances that the US would not use Iraqi territory to attack neighbouring countries like Iran or Syria. To secure Shiite backing, al-Maliki on Saturday dispatched two senior lawmakers with a copy of the final draft to influential Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. In a note that was interpreted as implicit support for the agreement, al-Sistani told legislators Khalid al-Attiyah and Ali al- Adeeb that the document represented 'the best available option' for Iraq, Al-Jazeera news network reported Sunday. The most vocal opposition to the pact, however, comes from fiery anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has called on his supporters to hold demonstrations calling on the US to 'get out of our beloved Iraq.' Tens of thousands of his supporters demonstrated in Baghdad in October against the draft security deal. The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) said on Sunday that the Iraqi government has approved a deal of 'submission' to the US administration. The agreement was one that would entrench a 'despicable occupation', the AMS said in a statement published on its website. Meanwhile the bloody attacks continued in Iraq, with 13 killed and 21 injured in two separate attacks Sunday. A car bomb attack on a police patrol in north-east Iraq killed 10 civilians and injured 14, a security source in Diyala said. The explosion took place near a courthouse in the al-Wihda neighbourhood of Jalawlaa, 212 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, the al-Buratha news agency reported. Earlier, a bomb went off in north-eastern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding seven, police said. The bomb was detonated near a checkpoint in al-Shaab manned by members of a pro-US tribal force known as the Awakening Councils. A civilian and two tribal members died. Seven tribal members were among the wounded, a police source told Voices Of Iraq (VOI) news agency. Iraq's Awakening Councils are made up of some 99,000 Sunni tribe members, who, angered by al-Qaeda's killing of civilians, allied themselves with US forces. They have been responsible for driving out a large number of militants since 2005.