Iraq’s parliament on Thursday signed off on a Status of Forces Agreement that paves the way for withdrawal of U.S. forces within three years. The pact — which has been in negotiation for nearly a year — provides legal cover to U.S. troops stationed in the country after a U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
But here’s the interesting part: the agreement also makes thousands of U.S. contractors subject to Iraqi law. According to the final version of the text, Iraq will have the “primary right to exercise jurisdiction over United States contractors” and their employees.
Oceans of ink were spilled arguing that it was a mistake for the US to depend so heavily on contractors in Iraq because history has demonstrated that mercenaries were unreliable. One thing that almost no one mentioned was that history also demonstrates that mercenaries are historically the first ones thrown under the bus.
This concession is a poisonous gift from President Bush to the left. On one hand leftest commentators are overjoyed that the hated security contractors might now face “justice.” On the other hand, this concession is going to vastly complicate Obama’s life.
I don’t think Bush approved of this agreement with such machivilian thoughts in his mind. But he could have hardly made Obama’s life harder if he tried.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 7:49 pm and is filed under Front Page, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.