Iraqi government poised to yank immunity from Blackwater
 A withdrawal plan currently being worked out between American and Iraqi negotiators includes the acknowledgment that military security contractors such as Blackwater, whose employees have been accused of recklessness and mass murder during the occupation, would be newly subject to Iraqi law, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
Negotiators are in agreement on most of the plan, which will have to meet the approval not only of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but also officials within his Council of Ministers and, finally, the Iraqi parliament.
It could be weeks, if not longer, before the agreement sees those votes, said one official. "They are obviously going to be extremely attentive not just to the substance but also to the presentation," added another.
Excerpts from the article follow:
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The Bush administration has opposed such a timetable but has bowed to Iraqi demands for target dates. Officials on both sides said dates will be couched in language that allows the withdrawal to speed up or slow down, depending on conditions on the ground.
The U.N. mandate authorizing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq expires at the end of this year. Negotiations on the bilateral arrangements to replace it began in March, with a completion target of July 31 that would have given the two governments time to gain political and popular approval and arrange logistics for the transition.
Negotiators initially began with two separate agreements. The first, called a strategic framework, outlines long-term political, economic, cultural and security arrangements between the two countries. A second accord, a status-of-forces agreement, was to cover more specific rights and responsibilities of the U.S. military in Iraq. When negotiations over the status-of-forces agreement stalled in June, negotiators decided to attach it to the larger framework as an implementing memorandum on security arrangements.
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The entire piece can be read HERE.
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