Iraq's top diplomat said Wednesday that prospects for a new security agreement with the United States had brightened because of U.S. flexibility on the terms.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari gave the optimistic assessment to reporters after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Iraq is seeking a larger role in the agreement, which is designed to establish a legal framework for U.S. military operations in the country after a U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. The deadline for coming to terms is July 31.
"We have said the agreement must be transparent and not a secret one," Zebari said after seeing Rice, who made no statement.
"There is more flexibility on the U.S. side to reach an agreement that is acceptable both for the U.S. and for us," he said.
People are also reading…
On the U.S. side, Tom Casey, a State Department spokes-man, said concluding an agreement requires flexibility on both sides.
Casey said the United States is not seeking permanent bases in Iraq. "We are not doing anything that impinges on the sovereignty of Iraq," he said.
"It is a negotiation that is making progress," he said, declining to provide details.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, asked President Bush not to include in the agreement any commitment to defend Iraq.
Instead, Voinovich said, the focus should be on efforts to bring U.S. forces home.
Shiite blamed for deadly bomb
The U.S. military blamed a renegade Shiite militiaman for a truck bombing that killed 63 people in a Shiite area of Baghdad, saying he was trying to re-ignite sectarian violence for personal gain.
The allegation points to a shift in the Iraq conflict, with the U.S. military increasingly concerned about Iranian-backed Shiite splinter groups as al-Qaida's influence recedes.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast, which devastated a bustling commercial street in Hurriyah, scene of some of the bloodiest Shiite-Sunni slaughter in 2006. That fueled speculation Sunni extremists may have been behind the attack.
However, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Stover said the American command believed the bombing was carried out by a Shiite splinter group led by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, also known as Haydar al-Majidi, who has been sought for months for kidnapping, murder and other offenses.
U.S. toll in Iraq
• Deaths: 4,103
• Wounded: 30,247
No casualties identified Wednesday.
Source: Department of Defense
