U.S. negotiators to return to Iraq for security talks

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

Monday, September 22, 2008; 9:23 AM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. negotiators will return to Baghdad soon for more talks with Iraq on a security deal that has bogged down over the issue of immunity for U.S. troops.

Critically for both sides, a U.N. mandate that governs the presence of American forces in Iraq expires at the end of the year. The "clock is ticking," said one official.

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad said on Monday that David Satterfield, the State Department's coordinator on Iraq, and Brett McGurk, an official at the National Security Council, would arrive soon in Baghdad. She declined to be more specific.

Iraqi officials, while saying talks were in the final stages, have said the government was waiting for the United States to respond to its latest proposals on immunity.


They have said they would be prepared for legal immunity to apply to U.S. troops who were on military bases or on missions. But if there was evidence of intentional wrongdoing by troops, then jurisdiction should be decided by a committee, they say.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092200794.html