Al-Maliki: Pact with U.S. a step to sovereignty

Analyst: U.S. presence could benefit Iran
Michael Hanna, an analyst at The Century Foundation, a New York-based research center, said that a continuing but finite presence of U.S. troops in Iraq could benefit Iran because it provides "retaliatory options" as Tehran pursues a nuclear program opposed by the West.

"At the moment, having the Americans just next door is, paradoxically, the greatest insurance against an U.S. attack," Hanna wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "In the near-term, a constrained U.S. troop presence would seem to be in their (Iranian) best interests."

Washington has accused Iran of providing resources and training to militants in Iraq, though security has improved dramatically since 2007 because of the U.S. troop "surge," a Sunni Arab revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and a cease-fire by a powerful Shiite militia.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, who stays out of the political fray but can influence the government because he is revered by most of the country's Shiites, said the U.S.-Iraqi security pact would only be viable if Iraq's main political groups backed it.

The office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani quoted him as saying he wanted the pact to secure Iraqi stability and sovereignty and "win the support of all Iraqis."

Tuesday's announcement by government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh that Iraq will hold long-awaited provincial elections Jan. 31 injected new hope the vote will foster national reconciliation by allowing the main ethnic and religious groups to have a balanced stake in the country's welfare.

The Sunni Arab community skipped the provincial elections in January 2005, leaving the Kurds and Shiites — who together make up about 80 percent of the population — in control of local councils in areas where the Sunnis are a majority or a large minority. That only deepened the sense of alienation among Sunni Arabs who dominated Iraq until the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

But the elections will offer no solution to another flashpoint in Iraq. There will be no vote in Tamim province, which includes the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Lawmakers had decided to postpone a decision on how to resolve a power-sharing dispute over Kirkuk. Kurdish leaders believe it should be incorporated into their semi-autonomous region in the north, which is also not participating in the vote.

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