Foreign minister: Iraq should accept U.S. security deal

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's foreign minister told lawmakers Tuesday the U.S. made major concessions in talks on a new security agreement, urging them to approve the deal to keep U.S. troops here after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari briefed lawmakers following his visit last month to Washington, where he met with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. His meetings in Washington focused on the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq on the security agreement and a separate set of rules governing the actions of American soldiers.

Many Iraqi lawmakers have complained that the U.S. demands would infringe on Iraqi sovereignty, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last month that the talks had reached an impasse.

But Zebari told the legislators that the Americans had made "great concessions to us," including an end to immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law enjoyed by American and other foreign security contractors.

He also said the U.S. was prepared to give up control of Iraqi air space if the Iraqis guarantee that they could protect the country's skies with their limited air force.

Zebari, a Kurd, said the rules governing U.S. troops would last for only one or two years while the separate security agreement would be long-term.

That appeared aimed as satisfying demands of key Shiite and Sunni legislators who had insisted that any agreement contain language that pointed to an eventual U.S. withdrawal.