BAGHDAD (AFP) — A top Shiite lawmaker said on Tuesday that Iraq has received "positive" signals from Washington for the changes which Baghdad proposed to the draft security deal between the two countries.
Sami al-Askari of the ruling Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said the Iraqi negotiators had "received positive indications from the Americans regarding the changes proposed in the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement)."
"But we are yet to receive their response officially," Askari who is close to the Iraqi negotiators told AFP.
Washington and Baghdad are negotiating a security deal which would determine the future of US forces in Iraq beyond 2008 when the present UN mandate expires.
The latest draft stipulates that American forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009 and from the country by 2011.
But the signing of the pact has been delayed despite several months of negotiations and Baghdad has proposed more changes to the draft.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Washington would provide its formal answer in the coming days and that the United States might accept some provisions and turn away others.
On Tuesday, the Baghdad edition of the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat said the Americans had agreed to three of the five latest changes proposed by Iraq.
It said, quoting unnamed sources, that Washington had dropped the clause that authorises Baghdad and Washington to seek an extension for retaining troops in the cities beyond 2009 and in the country beyond 2011.
The report said Washington has also agreed to allow Iraqis to inspect the incoming and outgoing American postal mail, and was also ready to make some changes in the language of the texts.
The American negotiators are, however, not keen to further loosen the immunity offered to the US soldiers.
Washington has already agreed to allow Iraq to prosecute American troops and civilians if they commit any serious crime outside the base when off duty. But Iraqis want to prosecute them for crimes conducted on their bases.
Iraq's national security advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie when contacted said he had no comments on the report in Asharq Al-Awsat, while US embassy officials in Baghdad were also unavailable for comment.
On Monday, the White House said it will give its formal answer to the proposed changes in the coming days.
"We expect to be talking with the Iraqis over the next week," spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. "There might be some that we can support; there might be some that we won't be able to support."
She said that Washington's answer to the changes will be delivered by its Baghdad ambassador Ryan Crocker.
The draft pact has drawn fierce opposition in Iraq over national sovereignty concerns.
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