US spells out Iraq mission under new pact
Middle East Desk Report

BAGHDAD—A security pact that sets a timetable for troops to leave Iraq requires a shift in how the U.S. carries out combat missions during its remaining time in the country, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said Friday.
Gen. Ray Odierno said in a written statement to troops that they would be receiving new rules of engagement but that there would be no change to their ability to protect themselves and the multinational force.
The security pact, “though, will require a subtle shift in how we plan, coordinate and execute combat missions throughout Iraq,” Odierno said, adding that under the new terms of agreement, U.S. troops will coordinate and execute all operations with the approval of the Iraqi government and implement them through the Iraqi security forces.
Odierno released the statement a day after Iraq’s three-member presidential council signed off on the pact, removing the last legal barrier so that the agreement can take effect Jan. 1. The security pact requires U.S. troops leave Iraq by January 1, 2012. It also requires American soldiers withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009.
Under the agreement, Iraq will gain strict oversight over the nearly 150,000 American troops now on the ground, representing a step toward full sovereignty for Iraq and a shift from the sense of frustration and humiliation that many Iraqis feel at the presence of American troops on their soil for so many years.
The security agreement replaces a U.N. mandate that gave the U.S.-led coalition sweeping powers to conduct military operations. The pact is still subject to approval by Iraqi voters in a referendum by the end of July. Odierno also said U.S. troop would continue to conduct operations in Iraq against al-Qaida and other extremist groups.
“But we must do so with respect for the Iraqi Constitution and laws, and we must continue to treat all Iraqi citizens with the utmost dignity and honor,” he wrote. Odierno said the U.S. will phase in the shift in responsibilities of the military to preserve security gains.
American troops, though, continue to be a target of insurgents. In an attack Thursday, two American soldiers were killed when a suicide driver detonated an explosive-laden car near an Iraqi checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, military spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Doherty said. Iraqi police said eight people were wounded, most of them civilians.
President George W. Bush on Friday called Iraq’s leaders to thank them for agreeing to a controversial security deal that lays the groundwork for the departure of US troops in three years, a spokesman said.
Bush made separate phone calls to Iraq’s two vice presidents and Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, as well as Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and deputy speaker of parliament Khalid al-Attiyah, said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
“President Bush thanked them for their leadership in securing approval of the Strategic Framework Agreement and the Security Agreement,” Johndroe said.
The US president on Thursday thanked Iraq’s president and prime minister for their work on the deal, which lays out the rights and responsibilities of US forces once the UN mandate for their presence in Iraq lapses late this month.
The wide-ranging accord — which will require all US troops to leave the country by the end of 2011 — won final approval from Iraq’s presidential council Thursday after nearly a year of intense negotiations. The pact was made possible in part by dramatic improvements in security over the past year.