Iraq And U. S. Reach "Dead End" On Deal To Stay In Iraq.

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Here are excerpts:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday denounced demands made by the United States to extend the presence of American troops in Iraq, saying that the two sides are deadlocked and far from reaching an agreement.

"We found out that the demands of the American side are strongly violating the sovereignty of Iraq, something we could never accept," Maliki said. ...

"The initial drafts that were presented have reached a dead end," Maliki said.

But Maliki specifically rejected two positions that American officials have signaled are nonnegotiable. He said the Iraqis expected the United States to commit to protecting Iraq from foreign aggression, and he ruled out allowing Americans to be immune from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

Editor's comments: "Dead End", indeed.