There goes Nouri al-Maliki thinking his opinion matters again

Isn’t it just adorable when Iraqis think their opinion about their own country makes a whit of difference?

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday a deal with Washington that will replace an expiring United Nations mandate for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq must provide for foreign soldiers’ withdrawal by 2011.

A second condition is that the deal will not make foreign troops and private contractors immune to the country’s laws.

“Iraq will not hold any agreement or treaty on the basis of one foreign soldier’s presence on the Iraqi lands, but through putting a specified timetable for the withdrawal of the foreign troops,” al-Maliki said during a tribal conference in Baghdad, according to Voices of Iraq. “Open immunities cannot be given to any person, regardless he is Iraqi or a foreigner.”

There just is nothing more cute than the “Prime Minister” of Iraq thinking he has a real say in anything. Heck, why not just sign a deal stating that all U.S. personnel will leave Iraq tomorrow? It will have the exact same effect as a deal that says the U.S. will be out by the end of 2011.

The U.S. isn’t going anywhere for a long, long time. Protecting the numerous permanent military bases, the $1-billion embassy and our oil fields is just not something the U.S. is ever going to leave to the Iraqis.

–WKW