Thirdly, Washington wants to retain its strategic advantage in the post-Iraq War era in the region. World powers have never ceased paying their attention to the Middle East since the Iraq War. The American military presence in Iraq could bring huge benefits to the US as it can contain Iran and will deter Russia and other countries from having their own military presence.
Iraq, the world's third largest oil-producing country in terms of the reserves, is of tremendous strategic interests to the US at a time when the oil price is soaring. Iraq is planning to raise its oil production from the current 500,000 barrels a day to 2.77 million barrel a day, a huge production expansion project that it has invited foreign firms to participate in.
The European Union has also said it wanted to reach an agreement with Iraq as soon as possible to import natural gas from the Middle East country. Those developments have made ironing out an agreement with Iraq a very urgent imperative for the Bush administration; otherwise its goal of "war for oil" would evaporate.
The security pact will be divided into two sub-agreements, one concerning the status of American forces and the other about the future cooperation framework between Washington and Baghdad.
Washington wants to have the following provisions included in the status of forces agreement: open up of more than 50 military bases, full control of Iraqi airspace, legal immunity for US military and private security firms, and the right to conduct armed operations throughout the country without consulting the Iraqi government.
The draft, which many say has seriously compromised Iraqi sovereignty, immediately antagonized Iraqi people when it was leaked to the public, sending many Iraqis taking to the streets.
The Iraqi government, including the Shi'ites, is opposed to the many provisions in the draft, stressing that Iraqi sovereignty must be respected and maintained. Internationally, the draft is also opposed by Russia, Iran and other countries. Russia holds that only if foreign countries withdraw their forces can Iraq have its genuine sovereignty.
The draft was originally scheduled to be concluded in July. Iraq has made new proposals, noting that the principle is that its sovereignty must be intact. The security pact, which is of vital importance to Iraq's national interests in the future, must be agreed upon in the first place between Iraq's various parties, otherwise the Iraqi government and its parliament would not ratify it.
