Home pagePress CenterIn the Media Nathan Freier, a senior fellow with the CSIS International Security Program, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal, "Iraq, U.S. Struggle to Hit Deadline for Military Presence Pact."
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Nathan Freier, a senior fellow with the CSIS International Security Program, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal, "Iraq, U.S. Struggle to Hit Deadline for Military Presence Pact."
Immunity for U.S. troops remains a stumbling block. The U.S. says eliminating immunity for troops in combat situations is unacceptable, while the Iraqis say it is an important condition to uphold Iraqi sovereignty.
"These talks are an important part of the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Iraq as things improve there," said retired Army Lt. Col. Nathan Freier, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The Iraqi government is taking on more responsibilities, but given the politicization and immaturity of the Iraqi judicial system, American soldiers would be at risk if immunity is dropped."
Security agreements such as this usually take several years to negotiate and are worked out with countries that are at peace, which makes the talks with Iraq an unusual case.
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