The Associated Press reported on Wednesday: ‘ Iraqi officials say the U.S. has agreed to give Iraq first crack at prosecuting American troops and Pentagon contractors accused of major crimes committed off U.S. bases and when they’re not on missions.’
The draft will have to be approved by Iraq’s Parliament, but it is quite likely that it will indeed be approved and put into action.
Here is what the bill would, essentially, do:
1. The U.S. would (have the right to) prosecute ‘ troops and contractors for alleged offenses committed on U.S. bases or during military missions.’
2. Iraq, meanwhile, ‘ would have the right to prosecute major, premeditated crimes committed off the bases and when the accused were not on a mission.’
It is, I think, for most foreigners and quite some Americans as well - perhaps not many conservative Americans - a good deal. The U.S. and Iraq should prosecute such individuals and, when they commit crimes in Iraq , but off the U.S. military bases, the Iraqi government has every right to hold them accountable.
The fact that the Iraqis were not allowed to do so for years, was one of the major reasons for America’s growing unpopularity and it was, in my opinion, a major injustice.
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