Soldier In Iraq

Abdullah delays Iraq visit Gulf Daily News, Bahrain - 3 hours ago Rubaie said Iraq was waiting "impatiently for the day when the last foreign soldier leaves Iraq". "We can't have a memorandum of understanding with foreign ...

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King Abdullah of Jordan's plan to visit Iraq today has been postponed, an Iraqi official said yesterday, without giving any reason. Abdullah was to be the first Arab head of state to travel to Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. The trip would have further eased Iraq's diplomatic isolation from its Sunni Arab neighbours. "We were informed by the Jordanians that the visit was postponed. No new date has been set and we don't know the reasons," said Naseer Al Ani, a senior official in Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's office. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki had announced the date of the King's visit during a meeting with Arab ambassadors in the UAE on Monday. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government yesterday said it would not accept any security agreement with the US unless it includes dates for the withdrawal of foreign forces. The comments by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq Al Rubaie underscored the US-backed government's hardening stance toward a deal with Washington that would provide a legal basis for US troops to operate when a UN mandate expires at the end of the year. Rubaie said Iraq was waiting "impatiently for the day when the last foreign soldier leaves Iraq". "We can't have a memorandum of understanding with foreign forces unless it has dates and clear horizons determining the departure of foreign forces. We're unambiguously talking about their departure," Rubaie said in Najaf. In a further complication, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker Khalid Al Attiya said lawmakers must approve any deal the Iraqi government reaches and will probably reject the document if American troops are immune from Iraqi law. In another development, a US soldier was killed yesterday when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle west of Baghdad. The latest death brings the US military's losses in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 4,115.