Security

Iraq Power Shift: Still a Work in Progress

A new U.S.-Iraq security deal takes effect in just over a week. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, met with reporters yesterday — and he acknowledged that a lot of the details are still being hammered out in Baghdad. Among the top issues: jurisdiction over U.S. troops (and contractors). The new security […]

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A new U.S.-Iraq security deal takes effect in just over a week. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, met with reporters yesterday -- and he acknowledged that a lot of the details are still being hammered out in Baghdad.

Among the top issues: jurisdiction over U.S. troops (and contractors). The new security pact extends broad legal immunity to uniformed U.S. personnel, with one potential loophole: U.S. jurisdiction applies only while those personnel are on base -- or on duty. According to USA Today, Odierno said the coalition is "still working [its] way through" how to determine when soldiers are considered off-duty if they are outside a military base. (My guess: never.)

Equally important, most of the committees that are supposed to resolve transfer-of-power issues have yet to be formed. The *Los Angeles Times *reports:

Committees assigned to deal with U.S.-led combat operations and jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel are among those that have not met even as Iraq moves toward sovereignty, U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters.

"The Iraqis are still forming their committees and who will be on the committees," he said.

There is no cause for alarm, Odierno said, adding that progress is being made in key areas of the transition, such as control of Iraqi airspace and the Green Zone safety area that houses Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies.

One major issue we'll also be following is the interpretation of Article 24, which governs the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops. The second paragraph says that "all United States combat forces" must move out of Iraqi cities by mid-2009. The definition of what constitutes "combat forces" is open to debate; Odierno has suggested that it does not apply to U.S. troops in an advisory role. **

[PHOTO: Nathan Hodge]

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