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OCTOBER 22, 2011

Maliki Takes Hard Line on American Withdrawal

By SAM DAGHER

BAGHDAD--Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that disagreement between Baghdad and Washington over the issue of immunity for American soldiers from Iraqi law was the main obstacle to reaching a deal to maintain an American military presence in Iraq beyond the end of the year.

Mr. Maliki also signaled that there would be no compromise on this matter even in further discussions to keep a small contingent of American trainers and advisers.

"When the issue of immunity was brought up and the Iraqi side was told that the American side won't leave a single soldier without full immunity and the Iraqi answer was that it's impossible to grant immunity to a single American soldier, negotiations stopped regarding the numbers, location and mechanics of training," Mr. Maliki told reporters in Baghdad.


He spoke one day after President Barack Obama announced that the some 45,000 U.S. soldiers left in Iraq would all return home by the end of the year, thereby bringing to an end a period of protracted and tense negotiations that took place this year. A deal could have altered a Status of Forces Agreement signed between both sides in 2008 and kept a small contingent of combat troops in the country beyond Dec. 31, 2011.

Meanwhile, in the first reaction from firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to President Obama's announcement, the official website of his political movement posted on Saturday a photograph of him in military fatigues with a rifle propped on a desk. The image was accompanied by a scanned document in which he responds to a follower's query about a possible increase in U.S. personnel at the embassy in Baghdad after the end of the year.

"They are all occupiers and must be resisted after the end of the [withdrawal] period," wrote Mr. Sadr, who has been among the most vociferous opponents of all U.S. military presence in Iraq.

White House officials have said that the U.S. will maintain between 4,000 and 5,000 security contractors in Iraq to protect American diplomats.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also left the door open on Friday to the possibility that some American soldiers could return to Iraq after the withdrawal of American combat forces to provide training, especially to the country's air force, which agreed recently to purchase 18 F-16 fighter jets from the U.S.

But here, too, Mr. Maliki took a hard line on Saturday, saying that it would be solely up to Iraq to decide how many trainers it needed. He added that the trainers would enjoy no immunity and would be confined to Iraqi bases. He also quashed the possibility for collaboration with the U.S. in the fight against terror groups like Al Qaeda in arrangements similar to those with countries like Pakistan and Yemen.

"That's what the Iraqi side will decide from a technical standpoint: the required number, without immunity and present inside Iraqi camps for training only," he said. "As for operations and taking part in operations, that's finished."

Although the countries have already a separate Strategic Framework Agreement that calls for defense and security cooperation in broad terms, Mr. Maliki suggested that one less-controversial way forward would be for the U.S. to send military experts as part of Iraqi deals with U.S. defense contractors, but again without immunity.

"This is a matter that has not been concluded yet and is still under discussion," he said.

It is unclear what the U.S. position is on such a proposal. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Iraq in the coming two weeks.

Mr. Maliki, who clinched a second term as prime minister in December after a grueling election, sought maximum political gain for Friday's announcement, projecting himself as the guardian of Iraqi sovereignty in the face of American demands.

"This is a huge victory and a massive success for Iraq and its diplomacy and its will and the will of its patriotic political forces," he said in his appearance on Saturday.

He called on Iraqis to take to the streets in celebrations and rallies. So far reaction among average Iraqis has been subdued, in part because Mr. Sadr's associates said they still mistrusted U.S. intentions.

"We are worried about secret accords to keep the Americans under other labels such as advisers, security contractors and trainers," said Mushreq Naji, a lawmaker from Mr. Sadr's political movement, which controls 40 of the 325 seats in parliament and six ministries in Mr. Maliki's cabinet.

The anti-American cleric played kingmaker by backing Mr. Maliki as the final nominee for prime minister for the country's Shiite majority last year. He also maintains a militia group accused of attacking U.S. interests in Iraq.

"It's essential to call to your attention that we remain opposed to the American presence in Iraq and we still label it as occupation and this includes the presence of American trainers on Iraqi soil, whether this happens in accordance with an agreement with the Iraqi government or not," said Mr. Sadr in a televised speech on Thursday hours after his return to Iraq from Iran.

He said he would only support the presence of American trainers in Iraq if Washington agreed to compensate Iraqis for its invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.

Washington has accused Tehran of arming and bankrolling militia leaders like Mr. Sadr and others.

On Saturday Mr. Maliki sought to ease concerns that Baghdad would firmly move into Iran's orbit of influence after the full withdrawal of American forces and said that Iraq still seeks a special relationship with the U.S.

"We speak about our interest as Iraqis first and we do not speak about the interest of others," he said, without naming Iran.

Ghassan al-Atiyyah, a London-based Iraqi politician and academic, said the breakdown of negotiations between Iraq and the U.S. over immunity sends a message that Washington has lost leverage over the current Iraqi government and opens the door to greater interference by Iraq's neighbors Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia at a very tumultuous and dangerous period for the entire region.

"American withdrawal in this manner, given that Iraq is unstable, opens Pandora's box," he said adding that this could bolster an eventual "Damascus-Baghdad-Tehran axis" in the region.

--Jabbar Yaseen contributed to this article

Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com