BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met top US officials on Saturday to push for the speedy implementation of a landmark security pact allowing US troops to remain until 2011.
Maliki, US ambassador Ryan Crocker and the commander of American forces General Ray Odierno discussed "immediate measures to activate the agreement," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
"They also discussed technical means of disengaging Iraq from Chapter Seven, the issue of detainees, positions held by American troops, the Green Zone and airspace," the statement said.
On Thursday the Iraqi parliament ratified the security pact after months of wrangling. It is now due be sent to the presidential council on Sunday for a final review.
The US-led force is deployed in Iraq in line with the terms of Chapter Seven of the UN charter which stipulates that it can use "coercive measures" if peace is threatened.
According to US estimates 15,800 people are detained in jails run by US-led forces. The Iraq-US security pact stipulates that they will be turned over to Iraqi jurisdiction.
The Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad, also known as the International Zone, houses parliament and a number of government buildings and embassies.
The pact, which was approved despite strong criticism from some hardline Shiite groups, will see all US troops withdraw by the end of 2011, eight years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
It will govern the presence of 150,000 US troops stationed in over 400 bases when their UN mandate expires at the end of the year, giving the Iraqi government veto power over virtually all of their operations.
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