Iraq wins right to prosecute US troops

BAGHDAD: Iraq has secured the right to prosecute US soldiers and civilians for crimes committed outside their bases and when off duty, in the latest draft of a security pact that will set the terms of their deployment beyond this year.

The draft stipulates that the US will have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over its soldiers and civilians if they commit a crime inside their facilities or when on missions.

But the arrangement gives Iraqi courts the right to prosecute US soldiers and civilians if they commit “grave and premeditated felonies outside their facilities and when not on missions.”

The decision is seen as a hard-won concession for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who has taken a tough stand on protecting his country’s sovereignty in the pact.

The so-called Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) will provide the legal basis for a US troop presence in Iraq after the present UN mandate expires on December 31.

If the agreement is signed by the two sides and approved by the Iraqi parliament, it will become effective from January 1 and last for three years, during which a phased withdrawal of US forces is outlined.

US combat forces will withdraw from Iraqi towns and villages by June 2009 and pull out of Iraq completely by December 2011, the document says.

The two sides have also agreed that all military operations in Iraq will be carried out with the approval of Baghdad under the supervision of a Joint Military Operation Coordination Committee (JMOCC) to be formed under the pact.