New rules complicate Iraq mission

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By Richard Tomkins

BAGHDAD | U.S. forces working in Iraq under rules that formally go into effect Thursday are experiencing both cooperation and difficulties, U.S. officials say.

Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) approved by the Iraqi parliament on Nov. 27, U.S. troops must obtain warrants to arrest Iraqi suspects, except in combat situations.

As first reported by The Washington Times, U.S. troops in Baghdad and Baghdad province have been following the warrant requirement for more than a month. Although 10 warrants have been issued so far in northeastern Baghdad, speed in obtaining others has been a problem.

"We applied for 10 warrants two weeks ago, and we still don´t know what´s happening with them," said Col. John Hort, commander of the 4th Infantry Division´s 3rd Brigade Combat Team. "If we saw one of those bad guys on the street tomorrow, we couldn´t do anything about it."

The SOFA replaces a U.N. Security Council mandate that expires Wednesday and gives legal cover for the U.S. military presence and operations in Iraq for another three years. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which bargained hard with Washington to win major concessions in the pact, sees the agreement as a symbol of the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. But for the Americans, the agreement spells an end to unilateral operations and an entry into trickier terrain.

"This agreement represents the complete restoration of full Iraqi sovereignty over this nation by the new government, for better or for worse, and hopefully for the better," said Lt. Col. Peter Pierce, a legal officer with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team. "We can´t fundamentally do things without the cooperation and coordination of the Iraq government."

Missions such as weapons searches, neighborhood patrols and spot checkpoints once conducted unilaterally will transition to joint operations or require Iraqi approval.

"Security operations will continue; combat operations will continue," said Brig. Gen. David Perkins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq, "but they must all be approved by the government of Iraq.

"What you're going to ... see are very few, if any, unilateral operations on the part of the ... United States," he said. "They'll be joint operations done with the approval of the Iraqi government, with Iraqi Security Forces and highly coordinated. From a procedural point of view, that's a fairly dramatic change."

Mr. al-Maliki is to give a nationwide televised address Thursday. He is to speak from the Green Zone, the headquarters for the Iraqi government and the location of U.S. diplomatic and military representatives, which will have fallen under Iraqi security control hours earlier.