Washington, October 07: The United States says American troops must be granted immunity from local prosecution, should any number of them stay in Iraq beyond an agreed year-end deadline.
“I can say very clearly that any kind of US presence [in Iraq] demands that we protect and provide the appropriate immunity for our soldiers,” US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, said at a news conference in Brussels on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
There are about 43,500 American troops currently deployed in Iraq. Under a 2008-clinched bilateral security accord, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), all the troops are required to leave the country by the end of this year.
On Tuesday, Iraqi leaders refused to award immunity to the US troops, who could stay beyond the deadline.
Washington seeks to hammer out an agreement with Baghdad on keeping some 5,000 of the troops under the pretext of training local forces.
Over one million Iraqis have been killed during the invasion, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.
——-Agencies