Iraq condemns U.S. assault on Syria

As the Iraqi government voiced displeasure over the American assault, the Cabinet also approved changes to a proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement that would allow U.S. forces to stay in Iraq through the end of 2011.

The raid on Syria highlighted the tense relations between Iraq and its neighbors Iran and Syria, who vehemently oppose any long-term American presence in Iraq and want Baghdad to reject the agreement.

The changes in the pact recommended by the Cabinet included a demand to inspect U.S. military shipments into Iraq and the right to determine alone, without American involvement, whether a U.S. soldier suspected of committing a crime was off duty and should therefore stand trial in Iraqi court, according to Environment Minister Narmin Othman.

The Cabinet rejected a clause in the text that would have offered Iraq the option of asking U.S. forces to stay on after 2011 if the Iraqi government decided it still needed support.

The Iraqi demands, particularly regarding prosecuting U.S. soldiers in Iraqi court, were not likely to be approved by the Bush administration, which has described the current text as its best offer.

If American negotiators do not accept the changes, the Cabinet will decide whether to submit the agreement to parliament or to seek an alternative arrangement with the Americans after Dec. 31, when the current United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing U.S. forces in Iraq expires.

In an interview on the U.S.-funded Al Hurra television channel, government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said if the negotiations failed, the only other option was to go before the U.N. Security Council to seek an extension of the mandate for U.S. forces in Iraq. The Americans have warned the Iraqi government that if it has no bilateral pact or legal protection, the U.S. military will have to freeze most activities on Jan. 1, according to a senior U.S. officer.

Even as the Cabinet debated the proposed U.S.-Iraqi pact, Iraq made clear its displeasure over the U.S. strike on Syria after previously avoiding such criticism for almost two days. Dabbagh denounced the operation in which U.S. helicopters flew five miles inside Syria to the village of Sukkariyeh to target a suspected facilitator of foreign fighters.