"Iraq politicians oppose US pact."

"Iraqi opposition groups have criticised moves towards a long-term US-Iraqi pact following the expiry of the UN mandate governing foreign troops in Iraq.

"On Monday US and Iraqi leaders signed a "declaration of principles" on enduring military, political and economic ties.

"Sunni Arab and Shia politicians said it would lead to what they described as "US interference for years to come".

"The Iraqi parliament will have to approve any final agreement before it can come into force."

In what looks like imperialism (The power or character of an emperor; imperial authority; the spirit of empire), the US military still occupies Germany, Japan, South Korea, part of Cuba, and innumerable other places in the world. The Phillipines made a move toward throwing out the US, didn't complete the job. The Vietnamese threw out the US in a tragedy in which 58,000 US lives were lost and no lessons learned.

One might say that Haiti and Panama might be examples, but be wrong. Haiti is so much in the US sphere it doesn't need to be occupied, and there is no use for it, and the US has many, many "FOL"s, forward operating locations, all over Latin and South America.

No one thinks the US military is in Germany to protect it from Soviet invasion, or in Japan to prevent the Chinese from taking over? What is the purpose for those bases if not "imperialism"? It ain't terrorism, it ain't to counter a threat to the US.

Arf