ARBIL, Dec 11, 2007 (AFP) - A top Iraqi Kurdish leader on Tuesday said the Kurds
want a deal with Washington that would protect their rights as well ensure long
term American troops presence in the country.
On his arrival from a visit to Washington, Omar Fatah, deputy prime minister of
Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said they want a "strategic
agreement with the Americans" similar to the one between Washington and Baghdad
signed last month.
That was for a long-term economic and political agreement that would also keep
American forces in Iraq beyond 2008.
"We expressed our pleasure about the agreement between Washington and Baghdad,"
said Fatah, adding that Kurds want a similar deal.
"We want an agreement that would see that Kurds are not oppressed again," he
said, referring to atrocities committed by the former regime against them.
Fatah said that, during his visit, he also told US leaders that the Kurds were
in favour of a long-term American presence in Iraq.
"We told the Americans that Kurdistan does not support early withdrawal of US
troops. We want the troops to be present until a democratic and federal Iraq is
built," Fatah said.
The Kurdish leader also said Washington urged the regional administration to
restrain signing oil deals with foreign companies until Baghdad passed an oil
law.
"The Americans told us not to rush in signing oil contracts and said 'we know
your situation is bad and need investments but we feel it is better to wait till
the Iraqi oil law is passed.'"
However, Fatah said the Kurdish government had the right to sign the contracts,
as the revenues generated would be used to reconstruct "thousands of villages
destroyed by the former regime."
The Kurdish government is currently engaged in a heated stand-off with Baghdad
over the signing of oil deals in the absence of a central oil law.
The regional administration has signed 15 deals with 20 foreign companies to
explore and export oil in its territory, angering Baghdad which is yet to pass
an oil bill that has been pending in parliament for nearly a year.
