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Baghdad: Washington has received and is reviewing Iraqi proposals for amendments to a pact that would allow US troops to stay in Iraq after a UN Security Council mandate expires this year, the US embassy in Baghdad said on Wednesday.
"We got them. We are looking at them," embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh said.
On Tuesday the White House poured cold water on Iraq's push to reopen talks on a controversial accord governing the US troop presence there beyond December, calling the existing pact its "best offer".
"Anything that they would want to change would have to clear a very high bar for us. We think that the door is pretty much shut on these negotiations," spokeswoman Dana Perino said as Baghdad planned to push for changes.
But Perino said Washington was not completely closing off prospects for new talks, stressing that doing so "would be irresponsible" until US officials see the proposed amendments to the agreement.
"It's a little premature for me to say what we would or would not accept. I would just say that it's going to be very hard for us to accept any changes. And I think that the Iraqis know that," said the spokeswoman.
She spoke after the Iraqi cabinet authorised Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to negotiate changes in the security pact, which sets in motion a timeline for the withdrawal of US combat forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Meanwhile, Massud Barzani, the president of Iraq's northern Kurdish government, held talks on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice primarly discussing the controversial draft Iraq-US military pact.
"The issue of the strategic agreement was the main theme of the meeting," Barzani told reporters following his talks with Rice in Washington, adding it was "discussed in detail".
However, Barzani said he had no details about proposed changes to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
Sistani keeps close watch
Top Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani insists that the security pact being negotiated with Washington must not harm Iraq's sovereignty, his office said on Wednesday.
"Ayatollah Ali Sistani insists that the sovereignty of Iraq not be touched and he is closely following developments until the final accord has been clarified," said his office in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
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