No excuse to extend military presence of Americans
Former Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has said that the security agreement signed by
Jaafari, who is the leader of the Iraqi Shiite coalition, made the remarks during an interview with the Mehr News Agency. His remarks were later translated into English.
The U.S. has been left with no excuse to extend its military presence in the country beyond December 2011, and the security agreement will never be extended, he stated.
“The Iraqi people want foreign forces to leave Iraq, and the members of the parliament who represent the nation will never approve the extension of the security agreement or a new security agreement with Washington,” Jaafari noted. “This is a national demand, and we no longer want foreign forces to stay in Iraq.”
Judicial rulings issued for a number of MKO members
Elsewhere in the interview, Jaafari announced that judicial rulings have been issued for a number of members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), who are based in Iraq.
“Lawsuits have been filed against a number of the members of the terrorist MKO group, and rulings have been issued for them. And it has been emphasized that their presence in Iraq is illegal,” he stated.
“In our view, a political refugee in Iraq, no matter what country he has come from, should not be armed. As a matter of fact, if this person lays down arms, he can live peacefully in Iraq, otherwise he should leave Iraqi soil,” Jaafari added.
The Iraqi government “will never allow MKO members to take up arms against any country, particularly the neighboring countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey,” he said.
On the number of the Camp Ashraf residents, the Iraqi officials stated, “No accurate estimate of the number of these people is available since the number of them, their names, and their ranks keep changing. A number of MKO members have no option left but to continue cooperation with the organization. Some of them have even been killed after they broke away from the organization and stopped cooperating with it.”
On September 20, Iraqi Finance Minister Baqir Jabr Alzubaidi said that Baghdad will put the criminal leaders of the terrorist group on trial before expelling them.
The Iraqi people will never overlook the atrocities that the members of this group have committed, Alzubaidi stated.
Iraq has expressed concern over Bahrain crackdown
Asked about the crackdown on the people of Bahraini, Jaafari said, Iraq has expressed concern over the situation in Bahrain and have called for a compromise to be made between the government and protesters.