Reuters JUST weeks before US troops plan to leave Iraq, the country's political elite and Washington are at odds over whether American soldiers stay as trainers: Baghdad rejects any legal immunity for US soldiers and Washington says that means no deal. Without a shift in Iraq's position, any accord will likely now fall somewhere in between as Iraq's political stalemate, US domestic opposition to the war and a lack of time force a deal that leaves a just few hundred American soldiers in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki last week said US troops could stay on as part of the small NATO mission or as part of an already existing US embassy military training program which would give American troops legal protections. The country's political leadership gave Maliki the green light to negotiate, but without immunity – a sensitive matter that would have required tricky horse-trading within his fragile cross-sectarian government and possible defeat in parliament. But Washington sounds skittish on the options, insisting US troops would need full protections or at least assurances that whatever Iraq offers would bring the same legal cover. “I can't see the United States agreeing to blanket Iraqi jurisdiction,” said Stephen Biddle at the Council on Foreign Relations. “If it is more than just brinkmanship and if they are going to insist on this, then I think the United States will decline to stay at all.” More than eight years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, around 41,000 troops are in Iraq mostly advising Iraqi forces since ending combat operations last year. While violence has fallen since the sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007, Iraq still suffers daily attacks from a stubborn insurgency allied with Al-Qaeda and from Shiite militia. In private some Iraqi leaders acknowledge they would like a US troop presence as a guarantee in a country where sectarian tensions still simmer and Iraqi Arabs and Kurds are in dispute over who controls oil-rich areas in the north of Iraq. Only anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr openly opposes a continued US presence. His militia once battled US troops, but he is now a key political ally for Maliki. His opposition to US troops complicates the Iraqi leader's position. Maliki says Iraq needs fewer than the 3,400 troops US officials requested. But his alternatives leave little room for Washington. The embassy's Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq or OSC-I already has trainers covered by diplomatic immunity as part of the State Department. Attaching more uniformed officers maybe the most viable option, but numbers would likely be limited. “Under this agreement it could be just 200, or 300,” said Iraqi lawmaker Sami Al-Askari, a Maliki ally. “They have no option. The alternative is for them to leave altogether.” Defense hawks such as Senator John McCain say more than 10,000 US troops may be needed in Iraq. But a shift in Baghdad's position now looks difficult. Iraqi sovereignty, immunity and a date for withdrawal complicated negotiations before the final security agreement was signed. __
