WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt will be holding the third in a series of hearings on Friday to examine the Administration’s plan for a long-term United States military presence in Iraq, proposed in the Declaration of Principles signed by President Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki on November 26, 2007. 

The proposed agreement would replace the current United Nations mandate for Iraq, the international legal mechanism setting the framework for the combat activities of multilateral forces in the country, including American troops.

On January 23, Delahunt’s Subcommittee heard from legal scholars, who characterized the Declaration’s promise to defend Iraq against “internal and external” attack as being comparable to a defense treaty, which requires congressional approval. 

Administration officials declined to testify, but noted in press accounts that the commitment would be a routine “status of forces” agreement that will not “rise to a level” requiring congressional action. 

Status of forces agreements, which are in effect with over 100 countries, typically establish rules for routine matters such as use of airfields, as well as methods of protecting the rights of American soldiers accused of crimes in another country.  Top Administration officials have been invited to this hearing to explain how defense commitments can be made in a status of forces agreement, if that is their intent.

The hearing will once again provide the Bush Administration with an opportunity to inform Congress and the American people about the nature of the proposed long-term relationship.  

The Subcommittee will also hear additional testimony from a military expert on status of forces agreement and from lawyers who are experts on international agreements and the approval process, within both the executive and the Congress, for various types of such agreements.

To read a background memo about the hearing, please click here.

WHO:             Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight.

DATE:            Friday, February 8, 2008

TIME:             9:30 a.m.

WHERE:        Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building:

SUBJECT:      "The November 26 Declaration of Principles: Implications for UN Resolutions on Iraq and for Congressional Oversight"

WITNESSES:

Michael J. Glennon, Esq.
Professor of International Law
The Fletcher School
Tufts University

Douglas Macgregor, Ph.D.
Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired
Senior Fellow
Straus Military Reform Project
Center for Defense Information

Michael J. Matheson, Esq.
Visiting Research Professor of Law
The George Washington University Law School

Ruth Wedgwood, Esq.
Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy
Director of the International Law and Organizations Program
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Johns Hopkins University

The proposed agreement would be based on the “Declaration of Principles for a Long Term Relationship Between Iraq and the U.S.” which includes a commitment by the United States to engage in combat on behalf of the government of Iraq.

To view the Declaration of Principles, please click here.

The Administration made it clear on November 26, 2007 with a statement from General Douglas Lute that it does not intend to submit the agreement to the Senate for ratification.

To view Lute’s statement, please click here. 

 

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