Iraq opens military ops centre ahead of US pullout

[David]

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq on Saturday set up a joint command centre with the US military to coordinate operations after American forces withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns at the end of June, a senior official told AFP.

Defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said the Joint Military Operations Coordination Committee would be empowered to give authorisation to US forces to intervene militarily from July 1.

Askari also revealed that Iraq has already taken over more than three-quarters of the military bases the US is to hand over before June 30, when its combat troops will withdraw from Iraq's urban centres as part of a landmark security accord.

"Minister of Defence (Abdel Qader) Obeidi today opened the Joint Military Operations Coordination Committee to monitor the work of US and Iraqi forces, and to organise operations after June 30," Askari said.

"It is the body that gives authorisation to American forces to intervene after June 30."

The security accord limits US military operations to those approved by the Iraqi authorities.

Askari said the centre would be based in the ministry's own building in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.

He added that it would be staffed by senior US military officers, officials of the ministries of defence and interior, intelligence agencies, the navy, air force and army, and the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"The principle of this centre is to organise work and to reduce the time needed (for US troops) to intervene without violating the law," Askari said.

The spokesman added that American forces had continued their withdrawal from Iraq's cities, towns and villages, with US forces having transferred 120 out of 157 total bases to Iraqi control.

"We will continue to take control of the other bases in the coming days," he said.

The centre's opening derives from an accord signed between Baghdad and Washington in November which provides for the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.