Next month the Bush administration will begin renegotiating a ‘long term relationship’ with the government of Iraq. According to the New York Times, the administration will insist “that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law.”

But most Iraqis fear that the new agreement would further erode Iraqi sovereignty and transform Iraq into a “dependent state.” According to an Iraqi opinion poll released in September 2007, a majority of Iraqis have little confidence in American and coalition forces and oppose a prolonged U.S. military presence in Iraq.

- 58 percent of Iraqis have “not very much confidence” or no confidence in the U.S. and UK occupation forces

- 80 percent believe that U.S. and coalition forces have done “quite a bad job” or “a very bad job”

- 79 percent of Iraqis “somewhat oppose” or “strongly oppose” the presence of coalition troops

- 72 percent of Iraqis believe the presence of American forces is making the security situation worse

Despite their opposition, 77 percent of Iraqis still think that a long-term U.S. presence is unavoidable–a belief that is “highly correlated with support for attacks on U.S.-led forces.” In fact, according to a 2006 World Opinion Poll, there is “some evidence that if the United States were to make a commitment to withdraw according to a timetable, support for attacks would diminish.”

Thus as the Bush administration codifies the presence of American troops in Iraq into the foreseeable future, it runs against the grain of Iraqi public opinion, undermines its “democracy” rhetoric, and puts American lives in danger.

UPDATE: ThinkProgress is reporting that this agreement is unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional.

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