BAGHDAD — A top American official expressed confidence Tuesday that the U.S. and Iraq will finalize a long-term security pact on time next month despite strong opposition from Iran and a storm of criticism from Iraqi lawmakers who must ratify the deal.
David Satterfield, the State Department’s top adviser on Iraq, said both sides were committed to reaching an agreement, which also would provide a legal basis for keeping U.S. troops here after the United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
“We’re confident it can be achieved, and by the end of July deadline,” Satterfield said of the agreement.
Satterfield bristled at suggestions by a senior Bush administration official close to the talks, who told The Associated Press on Monday that it was “very possible” the U.S. may have to extend the existing U.N. mandate.
Stakes for both sides are high. An agreement would ensure long-term U.S. political and military support for Iraq and could help ease Arab concerns that the country would fall under Iranian domination if U.S. troops leave.
The agreement also could serve to counter the spread of Iranian influence both in Iraq and the wider Middle East.
However, the deal is politically explosive in a country where many people are weary of the American military presence, considered an affront to Iraqi national pride.
Iran fears that if long-term U.S. military bases are established on Iraqi soil, the country could be used as a launching pad for attacks on the neighboring country.
Satterfield disputed that Tuesday, saying Washington “does not think Iraq should be an arena, a platform for attacks on other states.”
Mindful of the political risks in striking such a deal, Iraq’s government plans to ask parliament to ratify the agreement as the representative of the Iraqi people.
Also Tuesday, the chief of Saddam Hussein’s tribal clan was killed by a bomb glued to the undercarriage of his car, Iraqi police said. Sheik Ali al-Nida, 65, was the leader of the al-Bu Nasir tribe, a large Sunni Arab clan of about 20,000 members, including Hussein’s family.
One bodyguard was killed and three were wounded when the vehicle exploded as they drove through the Wadi Shi shain area of Tikrit, a mostly Sunni Arab city about 80 miles north of Baghdad, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
Al-Nida received Hussein’s body after his 2006 execution and arranged the former dictator’s funeral.
In 2007, he founded a so-called Awakening Council in Hussein’s home village of Ouja, partnering with U.S. forces to fight Sunni militants in the area.
