From The Consortium News
By Jason Leopold

President-elect Barack Obama, in one of the first policy statements of his transition, demanded that the Bush administration either submit the proposed U.S.-Iraq “status-of-forces agreement” to Congress or leave an opening for him to change it next year.

Obama’s transition office posted a statement on its Web site, declaring that any agreement on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq “should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to begin withdrawing its troops and forswearing permanent bases.”

The statement also insisted that the agreement authorizing the presence of U.S. troops on Iraqi soil beyond a United Nations mandate that expires Dec. 31 “must be subject to Congressional approval.”

Obama’s transition office noted the irony that the Iraqi government was submitting the agreement to its parliament while the Bush administration was set on approving the troop deal on its own authority.

“It is unacceptable that the Iraqi government will present the agreement to the Iraqi parliament for approval — yet the Bush administration will not do the same with the U.S. Congress,” the statement read. “The Bush administration must submit the agreement to Congress or allow the next administration to negotiate an agreement that has bipartisan support here at home and makes absolutely clear that the U.S. will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq.”

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