The Favourable Catch 22

Being ‘gifted’ independence is a tricky thing. In some parts of the world more than others…

“Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Monday there would be no security agreement between the United States and Iraq without an unconditional timetable for withdrawal— a direct challenge to the Bush administration, which insists that the timing for troop departure would be based on conditions on the ground.

“No pact or an agreement should be set without being based on full sovereignty, national common interests, and no foreign soldier should remain on Iraqi land, and there should be a specific deadline and it should not be open,” Maliki told a meeting of tribal Sheikhs in Baghdad.

Maliki said that the United States and Iraq had agreed that all foreign troops would be off Iraqi soil by the end of 2011. “There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil,” Maliki said.

But the White House disputed Maliki’s statement and made clear the two countries are still at odds over the terms of a U.S. withdrawal.

“Any decisions on troops will be based on conditions on the ground in Iraq ,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Crawford, Tex. , where President Bush is vacationing. “That has always been our position. It continues to be our position.”

Fratto denied Maliki’s assertion that an agreement has been reached mandating that all foreign forces be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.”

Of course any future decisions will be based on conditions on the ground. And as long as foreign troops occupy the country you can bet that there’s going to be unrest on some level. It’s the ‘favourable’ catch 22.

The Russians can get the hell of out Georgia though. The Bush Administration can push Moscow’s buttons infinitum and we can label it justified. But as far as the Iraqis are concerned, well, demanding that foreign forces set a timetable for withdrawal isn’t in the cards. Their real estate is too valuable.

Funny how that works.