27/11/08
Iraq’s parliament has approved a security pact that allows US troops to stay in Iraq for three more years. The pact was approved by 144 members of the 198 who attended the session of the 275-member assembly, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the parliament speaker, said on Thursday. Under the deal, US forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 and leave the entire country by January 1, 2012. The vote in favour of the pact was backed by the ruling coalition’s Shia and Kurdish blocs, as well as the largest Sunni Arab bloc which had demanded concessions for supporting the deal. The 18-page agreement takes effect when the UN mandate now governing the troops expires on December 31.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/ 2008112713911673106.html
