Iraq Rejects Permanent U.S. Bases: Adviser

It seems that there are some in the Iraqi government that don't want to be part of any neocon empire:

Iraq will never allow the United States to have permanent military bases on its soil, the government's national security adviser said.

"We need the United States in our war against terrorism, we need them to guard our border sometimes, we need them for economic support and we need them for diplomatic and political support," Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said.

"But I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," he told Dubai-based al Arabiya television in an interview broadcast late on Monday.

[...]President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki signed a declaration of principles last month agreeing to friendly long-term ties. Arrangements for U.S. troops to stay beyond next year will be negotiated in early 2008.

Before Bush can think about creating a permanent presence in Iraq he has squelch the insurgency:

[...]U.S. commanders say al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants remain a serious threat, especially in the north of the country.

A suicide car bomber killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two others on Monday in Salahuddin province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Last week an al Qaeda-linked group threatened a wave of new attacks.

Nearly 3,900 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since 2003.

A suicide car bomb exploded on Tuesday at a checkpoint in a heavily guarded west Baghdad neighborhood near the homes of former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the leader of a small Sunni Arab party.

Two people were killed and 12 wounded. Neither politician was at his home.

The head of Iraq's largest mental hospital was killed by gunmen in a drive-by shooting late on Monday, the latest in a wave of attacks on medical experts that has caused an exodus of doctors.