Iraq Press Roundup

The Association of Muslim Scholars' Al Basaer newspaper said Friday in its editorial that attempts to keep U.S. troops in Iraq is a "precooked meal" and that Iraqis have chosen the path of resistance and will keep considering this option as long as the U.S. troops continue in Iraq.

The editorial, titled "The game of lining up is an excuse the occupier uses for its collaborators," said the agreement between the Iraqi government and the United States to keep U.S. troops in Iraq is illegitimate because it was taken by a government manufactured by the occupier.

It said Iraqis were not bound to this agreement.

The editorial said that the Iraqi minister of foreign affairs announced that at the end of January there will be talks regarding long-term agreements with the United States on the future of U.S. forces in Iraq.

"The U.S. president announced that keeping the troops in Iraq for 10 more years is possible, then the Iraqi minister of defense said there is a need for U.S. forces to stay in Iraq for one decade, adding Iraqi forces are unable to defend Iraq from outside assaults before 2020," the paper said.

It said the decision to keep troops in Iraq was preplanned.

"Existence of foreign forces on any land lacks a sovereign decision," it said.

It said forces that are involved in occupying, destroying infrastructure and displacing hundreds of thousands of people of a country are considered "suicide."

"The current Iraqi government is essentially the occupier's creation and is the fruit of its political projects; this means any decision taken by such a government is illegitimate and disrespectful."

The paper said the reason the Iraqi army was failing to provide security in Iraq was because the wrong basis was used to establish it and that sectarian and ethnic militias were being used to rebuild it.

Describing Iraqi forces, the paper said, "Such a chronic disease will be without a remedy as long as the occupation forces exist in Iraq."

It added: "The Iraqi army needs tens of years to be competent but keeping the troops in Iraq will only serve the U.S. occupation interests and likely lead to worsening and complicating the Iraqi crisis."

The paper said the ideal solution was for the occupation forces to leave and for the Iraqis to rebuild their army "professionally," away from sectarian and ethnic divisions.

"The people of Iraq have chosen to resist the occupier and will keep resisting until the last soldier is out of our land," it said.