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US Seeks Iraqi Authority to Continue War

Posted Jan 25, 08 7:10 AM CST in Politics,  World 

(Newser) – The White House is negotiating with Iraq what critics say is a treaty in all but name and could tie the hands of a future administration, reports the New York Times. The US is insisting on being granted continued authority to conduct the war and calling for legal protection for private contractors from the Baghdad government in a deal that administration officials expect will skirt requirements for Senate ratification.

America's United Nations mandate to conduct the war expires in 11 months. “This could very well implicate our military forces in a full-blown civil war" if the demands further stress fractures in the nation's fragile coalition, said one lawmaker. It's highly unlikely the Baghdad government would easily agree to such demands, particularly if it included immunity for contractors like Blackwater, whose guards recently shot dead several Iraqi civilians in a controversial operation.
Source: New York Times

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A U.S. army soldier from Ghostrider Company, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment runs through smoke generated by a smoke grenade during Operation Phantom Phoenix in the volatile Diyala province,...   (Associated Press)
A U.S. army soldier from Blackfoot Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment storms a back yard of a small farmhouse during a clearance mission.(AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)   (Associated Press)
U.S. Army medic Spc. Scott Wolfe, left, passes an injured Iraqi child to medic Spc. Juan Herrera, right, of 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment at Patrol Base Murray, near Baghdad, after a mortar strike...   (Associated Press)
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