Iraq Press Roundup

The SOFA is a marriage of convenience

The Status of Forces Agreement between Washington and Baghdad is similar to agreements the occupying power has with other nations, the independent Shabab al-Iraq said Tuesday.

There is a clear difference, however, between the Arabic- and English-language versions of the agreement, suggesting American officials are relying on one version, while Iraqi officials rely on the other.

The Iraqi public, meanwhile, remains convinced there are secret articles in either version of the agreement, despite assurances from Iraqi and U.S. authorities to the contrary.

Kurdish officials, for their part, pushed for the SOFA in order to remove Iraq from the Chapter VII U.N. mandate classifying Iraq as an occupied country and for U.S. concessions. The Sunnis, though with apprehension, supported the agreement as well, leaving the Sadrists and the Fadhila party, or Islamic Virtue, to voice their dissent.

The SOFA, however, supported everything but the interests of the Iraqi people, as the major benefit of the agreement was to preserve the reputation of the United States after its failed policies in Iraq.

Why is there a SOFA between occupied Baghdad and Washington?

Nothing less was expected from the Iraqi government when it passed the Status of Forces Agreement with Washington, al-Ittijah al-Aakhar said Tuesday.

The U.S.-appointed Iraqi government had no choice but to find a compromise between the interests of the Iraqi people and American greed when signing the SOFA. The Iraqi government portrayed the agreement as the only way to avoid a return to chaos.

Washington, for its part, threatened Baghdad with lawsuits and freezing its assets in American banks if it did not pass the agreement. U.S. officials also implied that they could pressure Arab governments to withhold their support for Iraq without the agreement, leaving the country vulnerable to foreign fighters.

What the Iraqi government unleashed with the SOFA is a continued American military presence in Iraq without authority from Baghdad. This will turn Iraq into a fertile ground for spies and Zionists who will use Iraqi soil to threaten Iran and Syria, the newspaper said.

Has the political violence in Iraq ended?

The security environment in Iraq has improved, but the situation is reversible as Iraq prepares for provincial elections Jan. 31, al-Ittihad said Tuesday.

The general mood regarding the security situation in Iraq is tied to volatile political equations that could boil over to conflict. While sectarian tensions have waned, they are expected to resurface as the provincial elections draw near, with national elections looming.

Sectarian tensions could emerge as political parties take to violence as a display of power. With alliances forming between major and minor parties in Iraq, conflicts could ensue as rivalries emerge in the wake of the elections. The parties that lose are expected to take up arms as a way to compensate for defeat at the polls, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, a heavy security presence in the streets does little to calm the sense that violence could return, as the more government forces patrol, the more likely they are to stoke existing tensions.

The government should then move to disrupt outside influence in Iraqi internal affairs and seek to eliminate foreign funds that support the insurgency.

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(Edited by Daniel Graeber)