Free Republic

US and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain. The draft calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving diplomacy...

COLUMBUS, Ohio , Sept. 15, 2006 -- In a significant event in the diplomatic arena, an agreement signed here a week ago kicked off a partnership between the state of Ohio and the Republic of Serbia. Serbian President Boris Tadic (left) holds a Minutemen statue presented to him by U.S. Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, during a Sept. 7 dinner for Tadic at Blum’s home at Fort McNair, in Washington. Tadic endorsed Serbia’s participation in the National Guard’s State Partnership Program with Ohio during his visit to the U.S. Photo by Master...