Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    AMMAN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Friday said talks with the United Sates on a long-term security pact have reached a "dead end" due to concerns that it might infringe on Iraqi sovereignty.

    "We have reached a dead end, because when we started the talks, we found that the U.S. demands would hugely infringe on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this is something we can never accept, " Maliki told media heads in Amman.

Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi (L) and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki review Bedouin guards of honour on his arrival at Amman airport June 12, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "We cannot allow U.S. forces to have the right to jail Iraqis or fight terrorism in an independent way," Maliki added.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is on a two-day visit to neighboring Jordan.

    Iraq is currently in talks with the United States on a Status of Forces Agreement to replace a UN mandate for U.S.-led forces that expires at the end of the year, which would allow U.S. soldiers to stay in Iraq beyond 2008.

    The pact has caused huge concerns both in Iraq and in neighboring countries such as Iran.

    Iraqi critics of the agreement said that it means Iraq will be a client state in which the United States will keep more than 50 military bases and American soldiers will enjoy legal immunity.

    Earlier this month, Iraqi Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi said in Amman that Iraq would never accept any deal that infringes on its sovereignty and is not in the interest of the Iraqi people.

    However, al-Maliki's comments on Friday mark the most outspoken and critical comments yet from the Iraqi side. 

Bush urges Europe for more effort in Afghanistan, Iraq 

    PARIS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush urged "powerful and purposeful" Europe on Friday to do more to help Afghanistan and Iraq.

    In a keynote speech at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Europe must do more to help Afghanistan and Iraq overcome ongoing deadly violence, the same way the United States helped the continent rebirth from the ashes of War II and the early Cold War years. Full story

U.S. stresses "correct" deal with Iraq

    WASHINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing negotiations, which is framing the future U.S.-Iraq relations, needs "to be done correctly than quickly," the State Department said Thursday.

    "We're continuing with our discussions with the government of Iraq. It is important to us that this be done correctly," acting State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told a news briefing. Full story

Bush says he doesn't regret Iraq war

    BERLIN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he has no regrets about the decision to invade Iraq in 2003, but he did regret the rhetoric he had used prior to the war which had made it appear that he was eager to go to war.

    "I don't regret it at all," Bush said at the press conference at the end of his farewell visit to Germany. But he admitted that he could have used "better rhetoric" to make his case for the Iraq war. Full story

U.S. holds hostage Iraq's foreign reserves in military deal negotiations

    LONDON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The Unite States is threatening the Iraqi government into signing a military agreement by holding hostage some 50 billion U.S. dollars of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Independent reported Friday.

    American negotiators are using the existence of 20 billion U.S. dollars in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the United States, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal which was seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the U.S. occupation indefinitely. Full story