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	Bush Administration Briefs Members on Draft U.S.-Iraq Agreement (CQPolitics.com)
	Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was expecting a call from national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley to discuss the proposed pact. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates earlier reached out to senior members by phone. They included the Democratic chairmen of the Armed Services committees, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri and Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, as well as Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, the ranking Republican on the House panel. "From the initial details we received, the agreement appears to provide enough flexibility to allow the U.S. to continue operations against al-Qaeda and stand up the Iraqi security forces," Hunter said. "We look forward to receiving additional details from the Department of Defense." The pact would provide the legal underpinnings for the U.S.-led coalition's further military engagement in Iraq after Dec. 31, 2008, when the U.N. resolution authorizing its presence expires. Congress declined this year to pass legislation requiring congressional approval of the pact. But the defense authorization law (PL 110-417) enacted this week requires the administration to bring the agreement to Congress for review and Gates, for one, has vowed to do so. Even if Congress does not have to approve the agreement by law, getting members to sign off on it is nonetheless politically vital. For the better part of this year, negotiators from Baghdad and Washington have been unable to come to terms on the agreement. Reportedly, the two sides have come to terms on requiring that most U.S. combat forces must leave Iraq by the end of 2011. One of the most controversial elements reportedly would allow Iraqi courts jurisdiction over crimes committed by U.S. forces when they are off duty and outside their bases. Levin said in a statement Wednesday he is wary of making US forces subject to inchoate Iraqi courts. "I am skeptical of any agreement that would subject U.S. servicemen and women to the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts in the middle of a chaotic war and in the absence of a judicial system that has been proven to be fair and protective of the rights of individuals," he said. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the draft agreement was satisfactory to Gates and he would convey that view to senior members in the days ahead. "I don't think the secretary would be making phone calls in support of the document if he didn't believe it adequately protected our forces in Iraq, and in really all facets of their operations there, from combat to legal protections," he added. Although Congress is not bound by law to ratify the pact, the Iraqi parliament is. And the prospects the pact will be approved in Baghdad are far from certain. To address that risk, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has begun to press the case for the agreement with Iraqi lawmakers. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice had spoken to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite and a top member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a Shiite political party whose support for the agreement is pivotal and far from certain. "The Iraqis are considering the text; we are talking to the Iraqis," McCormack said. Taken from here