IWPR
A deferred referendum and a timely payment may deflect unease over security deal.
One night in April, American troops stormed into Ahmed al-Baderi’s house, shot dead his wife and brother and ignited outrage over a sensitive deal defining their remit in Iraq.
“They tore down the door with a military truck,” said Baderi. “My brother Khalid went to investigate but they shot him dead. Then they killed my wife.”
The next day, hundreds of demonstrators marched on a government office in the city of Kut, where the raid took place, calling for an end to American “occupation”.
On state television, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded the United States hand over to Iraqi courts the troops who had carried out the raid. He accused American forces of violating the Status of Forces Agreement, SOFA – a pact overseeing the remainder of their deployment in Iraq that Maliki had helped broker.
The US said its troops had behaved properly and within the provisions of the agreement. A military statement released after the raid said the troops had shot dead a man who approached them carrying a weapon. A woman who “moved into the line of fire” also died despite receiving emergency treatment from a military doctor.
Four months after the incident, few questions have been answered but much of the outrage has ebbed.
Baderi says he has received an apology from the US military and a payment totalling 100 million dinars (about 90,000 US dollars) from Iraqi and US officials.
Meanwhile, a referendum on the SOFA that was due to have been held this summer has been postponed until January. It will now coincide with Iraqi parliamentary elections.
The government announced the plebiscite had been delayed to save money. Its critics said Maliki did not want to risk his re-election prospects with the public defeat of an accord he had claimed credit for.
SHOCK AND SCEPTICISM
The SOFA describes the terms under which US troops can operate in Iraq as they slowly reduce their deployment. The deal was worked out over 2008 between Baghdad and the government of former US president George W Bush.
It envisages a phased withdrawal for US combat troops, starting with an exit from most of Iraq’s towns and cities by June 30, 2009. By August 2010, the deal says most US forces would leave the country. Of those that remain, all would be gone by the end of 2011.
The agreement was ratified by the Iraqi parliament in December last year. Critics who said the deal was a smokescreen for prolonging the US military occupation were promised it would be put to a referendum this summer.
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