.Iraqi Kurd says US can have bases in northern Iraq: report
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — A top Iraqi Kurdish leader has said the US military could have bases in northern Iraq if Washington and Baghdad fail to sign the controversial security deal, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.
Massud Barzani, the president of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, said that his government would "welcome" such a move, the Khabat, the newspaper run by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, quoted him as saying.
"All the attempts are going right now to sign the pact, but if the pact is not signed and if US asked to keep their troops in Kurdistan, I think the parliament, the people and government of Kurdistan will welcome this warmly," he said at the Centre of Strategy and International Study in Washington.
Baghdad and Washington are currently engaged in drawn out negotiations over an arrangement that will determine the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires.
Barzani has strongly backed the controversial security deal but the signing of the pact was delayed after the Iraqi cabinet decided to seek changes in the latest draft of the agreement.
Barzani and other Iraqi Kurdish leaders have been strong US allies since the 1991 Gulf War that pushed former dictator Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait and established a no-fly zone over the country's northern Kurdish region.
The Kurdish leader is currently in Washington for a series of talks with President George W. Bush and other American officials.
AFP
Massud Barzani, the president of northern Iraq's regional Kurdish administration, said that his government would "welcome" such a move, the Khabat, the newspaper run by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party, quoted him as saying.
"All the attempts are going right now to sign the pact, but if the pact is not signed and if US asked to keep their troops in Kurdistan, I think the parliament, the people and government of Kurdistan will welcome this warmly," he said at the Centre of Strategy and International Study in Washington.
Baghdad and Washington are currently engaged in drawn out negotiations over an arrangement that will determine the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 when the current UN mandate expires.
Barzani has strongly backed the controversial security deal but the signing of the pact was delayed after the Iraqi cabinet decided to seek changes in the latest draft of the agreement.
Barzani and other Iraqi Kurdish leaders have been strong US allies since the 1991 Gulf War that pushed former dictator Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait and established a no-fly zone over the country's northern Kurdish region.
The Kurdish leader is currently in Washington for a series of talks with President George W. Bush and other American officials.
AFP
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