Oh yes, and it's specifically designed to avoid the need for ratification by the US Senate or the Iraqi parliament. All it requires are the signatures of the American president and the Iraqi prime minister.
The White House is doing everything it can to ram through an accord by November, thus ensuring that no matter who is elected this fall, the new president will be unable to withdraw American forces from Iraq - ever - without violating an international agreement.
Not surprisingly, Iraqi politicians are furious at this scheme to turn their country into a permanent American colony and are firing back, demanding the accord be put to a national referendum at the very least. Since the Iraqi public overwhelmingly supports an immediate American withdrawal, the White House (which loves democracy only when it gets the "right" results) is of course opposing such a vote.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker denied the plot's existence, but had no comment today on the Independent's next story:
The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.
Yes, the United States is now joined the Mafia by getting into the extortion business against a supposedly popular government that we helped install. This is because our supposed puppet in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, has been somewhat less than obedient lately, refusing to go along with the White House's drive for war with Iran and other political obsessions. So Washington has to use tougher methods in making them follow
Will Congress investigate this latest Administration drive to concentrate authority in an all-powerful president? Or will they just sit back and do nothing?
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