theSun | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18 2008
news without borders
Iraq backs pact giving US
troops three years
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s cabinet approved a pact on
Sunday that will let US troops stay in the country
until 2011, setting a final date to end a military
presence that began with the 2003 invasion that
toppled Saddam Hussein.
The pact, agreed after nearly a year of gruel-
ling negotiations with Washington, must still be
approved by the Iraqi parliament, but Foreign
Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expected that
to happen by the end of the month.
It gives a closing date to pull out troops from
a war that has been one of the defining political
issues in the United States, the Middle East and
around the globe for much of the past decade.
“The total withdrawal will be completed by
Dec 31, 2011. This is not governed by circum-
stances on the ground. This date is specific and
final,” cabinet spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
He said the pact was supported by 27 of 28
No retreat on election
pledges, says Obama
WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack
Obama vowed to pull troops out of Iraq,
crush Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and shut
down the Guantanamo Bay camp as part of
a dramatic foreign policy break with George
W. Bush.
In his first major post-election interview,
with CBS programme 60 Minutes, the
Democrat signalled no retreat from
expansive campaign promises that have
pleased US allies, even while adding little
detail to how he will fulfil them.
Repairing the stricken US economy will
be priority number one, Obama said in
the broad-ranging interview broadcast on
Sunday.
Obama also confirmed he had met
former Democratic primary rival Hillary
Clinton last week but refused to comment
on speculation linking her to the job of
secretary of state.
As soon as he succeeds Bush on Jan 20,
Obama said, “I will call in the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, my national security apparatus,
and we will start executing a plan
that draws down our troops” from
Iraq.
On the campaign trail,
Obama vowed to pull one or two
combat brigades out of Iraq every
month until after 16 months,
only a residual security force of
unspecified size remains. Some
of those brigades would head to
Afghanistan.
He told CBS that, “it is a
top priority for us to stamp
Hillary Clinton ... speculation
rife that she may become
secretary of state
briefs
Former Taiwan leader moved
to new hospital
TAIPEI: Taiwan authorities moved former presi-
dent Chen Shui-bian, in the midst of a hunger
strike in protest at his detention on corruption
allegations, to a new hospital, medical officials
said yesterday.
Local media have been providing almost
hour-by-hour coverage in the case of Chen,
who stopped eating on Wednesday after a court
ordered him held on suspicion of embezzlement
and other fiscal wrongdoing.
Chen was rushed to hospital on Sunday and
found to be dehydrated. Under tight security, he
was moved to Taipei County Hospital on Mon-
9
cabinet members who attended a meeting to
vote on it. Nine were not present.
Deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-At-
tiya said a first reading would be held in the
chamber.
The draft would place the US force in Iraq
– which now numbers about 150,000 – under
the authority of the Iraqi government for the first
time, replacing a mandate enacted by the UN
Security Council after the US invasion.
It calls for US forces to leave the streets of
Iraq’s towns and villages by the middle of next
year.
Dabbagh said US forces would hand over
their bases to Iraq during the course of 2009.
Iraqi forces now have command in all but five
of Iraq’s 18 provinces, and took the lead in a
crackdown on Shi’ite militias earlier this year.
– Reuters
out Al Qaeda once and for all” and that
killing or capturing the group’s mastermind
Osama bin Laden was “critical” to US
security.
Obama also pledged to make short
work of tackling offshoots of Bush’s “war
on terror” – the internment camp by US
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and harsh
interrogations of captured terror suspects.
“I have said repeatedly that America
doesn’t torture. And I’m going to make sure
that we don’t torture. Those are part and
parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral
stature in the world,” Obama added.
But he did not elaborate on where the
Guantanamo prisoners would be taken,
whether they would be transferred to
civilian custody in the United States itself,
put on trial, or released.
The president-elect is examining a slew
of “executive orders” signed by Bush.
Obama said that in Congress, his first
legislative priority was getting another
stimulus package passed to prop up the
enfeebled economy.
In line with the outcome of a
summit on Saturday of the world’s 20
biggest economies, the president-elect
said forging new regulation of the
financial markets was essential to
restoring the trust of consumers.
Obama appeared unconcerned
about the sea of red ink engulfing the
government’s finances, arguing that
economists from left and right
agreed that “we have to do
whatever it takes to get this
economy moving again.”
“The most important
thing is that we avoid a
deepening recession,”
he said. – AFP
day morning. Chen, has repeatedly accused the
island’s new China-friendly government of being
behind allegations of embezzlement, money laun-
dering and taking bribes and forgery. – AFP
Shuttle docks at
international space station
HOUSTON: Space shuttle Endeavour docked at
the International Space Station on Sunday on
an outer-space home improvement mission to
add amenities like a new toilet and kitchen to
the 10-year-old orbital outpost.
Shuttle commander Chris Ferguson nudged
the shuttle into a docking berth on the station’s
Harmony module as the craft soared 340km
above India. Soon after, astronauts floated
through a tunnel and into the welcoming arms
of their colleagues aboard the US$100 billion
(RM360 billion) station. – Reuters