Roads to Iraq

This is a very important report on akhbar-alkhaleej, it says [notice that the Americans indirectly are the third party negotiators]:

Former Iraqi Republican-Guards commander, revealed to the newspaper that American, British officers and diplomats from both embassies contacted him in Amman – Jordan offering him to form a political and military delegations to negotiates the former Iraqi army with the Iraqi government.

British General Christopher Hughes and David Bloom from the American embassy with other assistants of the American ambassador Crocker told him: we acknowledge your military leadership [plural form], but recognition conflicts with the political reality obstacles.

The Iraqi commander apologized from forming a political delegation but he agreed on the forming of a Military delegation from ” Hikmat Sulaiman Musa” former Interior Ministry deputy, Major General Ismail Yusuf Khalifa, Major General Mahjoub Riyadh Mashhadani and at the head of the delegation was Raad Al-Hamadani to present the former army demands on the Iraqi government.

The delegation transported to Baghdad by an American military jet, and held talks with the Iraqi government delegation representing Al-Maliki [political advisor Mohamad Salman, security adviser Basima Al-sa'idi, Staff General Major Adnan al-Musawi, Major General Naji Zaghir and three judicial experts].

The three days negotiations held with the presence of American and British representatives of the both foreign ministries on these points:

The recognition of the former Iraqi army and the Iraqi government must publicly announce that the former army was a national army, not responsible of the political decisions taken by the former regime, emergency payment for army officers because the Iraqi government deliberately withheld for six months [salaries] also, the completion of retirement and pension benefits without delay, the release of the assets of former Iraqi army officers which were confiscated by the Iraqi government, and activating the articles 39 and 40 of the Military Penal Code , which read the military do not bear any legal or criminal responsibility for acts and orders given by military high-ranks or political authorities orders, the return of the former army officers to the army from brigadier-rank to colonel-rank and give them the salaries they deserve.

Al-Hamadani said: The time line for the Iraqi Government to implement these points are thirty days from the date of signing the agreement, the Americans guaranteed to pressure the [Iraqi] government to implement these demands.