Status of Forces Agreement

SOFA is a security agreement between the Bush administration and Iraq.

Version one did not meet with the approval of the Iraqis and a so called watered down version is now close to approval.

Gulf News: US waters down conditions in Iraq security pact

If you read the original demands of the Bush administration, you will find what we have come to expect. There is the right to launch attacks whenever the US military deems it necessary, and there is complete immunity from prosecution for the military and military contractors AKA Blackwater and other mercenary troops.

Anyone with even the slightest sense of civil integrity would notice a vast chasm of inequality between the rhetoric of the Bush administration stating that Iraq is a democracy, and the Bush administration's desire to run completely roughshod over Iraq.

Another watered down demand is granting immunity to US troops and members of the controversial security contracting companies.

"The Americans accepted [the right to] a limited immunity, given only to combat troops. This will not include elements of the security firms," Othman said.