Havn't seen this diaried as yet, but if it is, let me know in the comments and I'll delete this.
Fearing a split in the Iraqi parliament, Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki won't sign the status of forces agreement that the Bush administration has been negotiating for over a year, according to McClatchy.
If confirmed, this is huge news. After the agreement was leaked couple of weeks ago, critics in the Iraqi parliament and elsewhere pointed out that this was basically everything that the Bush administration wanted especially on the question of immunity for crimes committed by U.S. soldiers and independent contractors. There was some language about liability for crimes committed by contractors off base, but in reality soldiers practically never leave base, so this was a kind of a theoretical concession to the Iraqi parliament and to peace.
Not sure if anyone is paying attention to Iraq 11 days before the election, but we should be. The Iraqi people and a President Obama should be able to hold these contractors and other accountable for their crimes on January 10 20 (thanks to kissfan for correcting my last day of Bush administration countdown).