Bush Regime Reaches Agreement On Date Certain Timeline With Its Iraqi Puppets

The U.S. has legalistically occupied Iraq since 2003. Without an agreement extending that occupation with the puppetty Baghdad regime that Bush set up, U.S. troops and mercenaries would all have to leave by December 31... or extend the occupation without the legalistic fig leaf. Yesterday there was an announcement that the Iraqi cabinet and the Bush Regime have come to an agreement. The Iraqi Parliament has to approve it but the U.S. Congress doesn't. However, Barack Obama needs to decide what to do starting in January. His own campaign promises included ending the war by 2010.

NeoCon and right wing loons will be unhappy to hear how cabinet spokesman Ali al-Daddagh termed the deal, which seems to fly in the face of everything the Bushists have been saying about timelines and a date-certain end to the war:

"The total withdrawal will be completed by December 31, 2011. This is not governed by circumstances on the ground. This date is specific and final."

The deal also places the 150,000 U.S. forces under the authority of the Iraqi government. That should go over well in Wingnuttia if Fox lets them know. By the middle of next year there should be no more U.S. troops on the streets of Iraq's cities and villages and sometime next year the U.S. will no longer be allowed to raid Iraqi homes without a court order for an Iraqi judge and permission from the government.

But even above and beyond the U.S. lunatic fringe, not everyone is thrilled with the agreement. Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr had called for armed resistance against any agreement that allowed a continued U.S. presence in Iraq and now he's saying Iraqis should demonstrate against it and insists Parliament should vote it down. He termed it "disgrace and ignominy."

“I repeat my demand to the occupier to leave our land without keeping bases or signing agreements,” Mr. Sadr said in a statement read to thousands of supporters at Friday prayers. “If they keep bases, then I would support honorable resistance.”