It seems that Ramadan is not slowing down Maliki nor Parliament, as this report indicates...

BAGHDAD (AFP) — A draft security deal between Washington and Baghdad on the future of US forces in Iraq is to be submitted to parliament within 10 days, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) will be sent to parliament within 10 days," he said in the Badr newspaper, run by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a key Shiite political party which is closely allied to Maliki.

"The government is waiting for an answer from the United States on the Iraqi suggestion to keep the sovereignty of Iraq and the interests of its people. The members of parliament will accept or reject the agreement," Maliki said.

Now, a draft of the agreement has been leaked and it can be found here

Here's the three most contentious articles in numerical order...

Article Twelve Legal Jurisdictions

1- The U.S. has exclusive legal jurisdiction over U.S. armed forces members and civilian members inside and outside installations and areas agreed upon.
Iraqi Suggestion: the Iraqi delegation has suggested the following:
The U.S. has the legal jurisdictions over the U.S. armed forces members and civilian members inside installations and areas agreed upon at all times, and outside the installations and areas agreed upon while conducting missions except for intentional crimes and major mistakes.

U.S. suggestion: The U.S. delegation suggested the following:
As a temporary regulation, and until the withdrawal of the U.S. combat forces is complete as indicated in paragraph 1 of article 26, until the combat missions are over the U.S. has the exclusive legal jurisdiction over U.S. armed forces members and civilian members inside and outside installations and areas agreed upon.

2- The U.S. will give its full attention to any complaint submitted by Iraq over intentional crimes and major mistakes that break Iraqi laws committed by U.S. armed forces members and civilian members. All complaints submitted by the Iraqi legal authorities will be dealt with by the joint committee and settled by mutual agreement of both sides.

Iraqi Suggestion: the Iraqi delegation has suggested the following:
Iraq has legal jurisdiction over U.S. armed forces members and civilian members who commit intentional crimes or major mistakes that break the Iraqi laws. The related joint committee concerning jurisdictions takes the appropriate action to solve disputes based on mutual agreement.

3- Iraq has legal jurisdiction over U.S. contractors and their employees when they break Iraqi laws.

4- U.S. forces will inform the Iraqi authorities of any criminal investigations that relate to members of the U.S. armed forces or civilian members involved in a crime against a victim that usually lives in Iraq. Both sides put the appropriate regulations to contact people related to incidents, provide details of the case and court dates, and help persons involved contact lawyers in accordance to article 21 of this agreement. The U.S. will work on holding the court in Iraq when that is appropriate and when both sides agree on it. In case the court was based in the U.S., the United States will make its best effort to facilitate bringing victims into the court.

5- Both sides agree to help each other in incidents’ investigations and collecting evidences to support a fair judgment.

6- All members of U.S. armed forces or civilian members who get arrested by the Iraqi authorities must be surrendered immediately to the U.S. forces authorities.

Iraqi Suggestion: the Iraqi delegation has suggested the following:
All members of U.S. armed forces or civilian members who get arrested by the Iraqi authorities must be surrendered to the U.S. forces authorities within 24 hours.

Even depending upon which 'suggestions' prevail, I find a lot of the Iraqi sovereignty that Maliki claims to exert over the US forces and contractors are mysteriously MIA... Maliki has obviously caved on much of what he argued for and had assured Parliament would exist in the Agreement...

Ironically, as the first article went on to point out...

But chief of the Badr Brigade party, Hadi al-Ameri, said he was unaware of any deal.

"There is no final draft until now," Hadi al-Ameri told AFP.

The paper also quoted parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani as saying the two sides differed on seven issues, although he did not reveal them.

"These issues need to be amended for a positive result that benefits the country," he said.[...]

Iyad Samarraie, leader of key Sunni party the National Concord Front, told AFP that immunity was indeed the most contentious issue.

"The Iraqis want that Iraqi laws should be applicable to the Americans in Iraq but the Americans are not agreeing to it. The two sides need to reach an agreement on this," Samarraie said.

It doesn't seem to me that ISCI, the Sunnis, and the Sadrists will sign off on that particular language as its written now...

Moving along to another contentious Sovereignty issue...

Article Twenty Two
Detention

1- All detention operations in this agreement must be conducted in accordance to the Iraqi law, constitution, sovereignty and national interest as decided by the Iraqi government in accordance to the international law.

2- All individuals detained by U.S. forces must be prepared to be handed over to the Iraqi authorities within 24 hours.

3- No detention operations can take place without a warrant issued by the specialized Iraqi authorities in accordance to the Iraqi law.

4- When Iraqi authorities conduct detention operations, they may ask for the help of the U.S. forces.

5- Detainees are kept in locations prepared by the Iraqi authorities and under its exclusive supervision and control.

6- U.S. forces are not permitted to search houses and other properties without a judicial warrant, unless there was an active combat operation, and in coordinating with the specialized Iraqi authorities.

I think this article is a non-starter on the American side, along with the immunity issues for US forces and contractors, I'm surprised there's not the US/Iraqi 'suggestions' dotting this article... Anyways, let's move on and look at Shrub's real bone of contention...

Article Twenty Six Targeted times to handover complete security responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces, and withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq

Iraqi Suggestion: the Iraqi delegation has suggested the following title to this article:
Transferring security responsibilities to Iraqi authorities, and the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq

U.S. Suggestion: the U.S. delegation has suggested combining paragraphs 1 and 2 as follows:

1- Both sides have agreed on the following time targets to handover complete security responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces and the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq:
A- U.S. combat troops will withdraw from Iraq completely at the latest on (…)
B- U.S. forces will withdraw from all cities, towns, and villages at latest by June 30, 2009 unless the Iraqi authorities request otherwise.

Note: the head of the U.S. delegation offered to accept the new title only if their combined paragraph is accepted, and he linked the two as one deal

3- All U.S. combat troops regroup in installations and areas agreed upon after the date mentioned in paragraph 2 of this article.

4- After the withdrawal of all combat troops as mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article, the rest of these forces will stay based on a request from the Iraqi government in accordance to this agreement. The joint committee for operations and coordination will determine the tasks and level of the troops that will focus on training and supporting Iraqi security forces.

5- Both sides review the progress towards achieving dates mentioned in this article and the conditions that might lead to one side asking the other to extend or reduce the time periods mentioned in paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of this article. Any extension or reduction of the time period is subject to both side's approval.

6- U.S. forces may withdraw from Iraq before the dates indicated in this article if either of the two sides should so request. Both sides recognize the Iraqi government's sovereign right to request a withdrawal of U.S. forces at anytime.

I could've bolded the whole article, but, I'll let it speak for itself...

Did you see any specific timetable or definitive language for when we're leaving...? Pretty generic if you ask me! Should be interesting to see what and how it transpires... As I've noted before there was the fact that two versions of the agreement, one in English and the other in Arabic exists and they don't jive...

This ain't a done deal! Only time will tell... again!