In the teeth of much local and regional opposition, Washington is pressuring Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to conclude a "strategic alliance" with the United States, which would allow it to keep substantial military forces in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

Even at the cost of 4,100 of its soldiers killed, another 30,000 or more seriously wounded, its reputation sorely tarnished, and a trillion dollar hole in its public accounts, the United States has clearly not yet learned the lesson that occupation breeds insurrection.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 - the smashing and near-dismemberment of the country, the killing and displacement of millions of its people - must surely be judged one of the great crimes of our time. To seek to stay on after this unmitigated catastrophe - making nonsense of Iraq's independence and sovereignty - not only perpetuates the crime, but is a grave strategic mistake for which both the US and its Iraqi vassals are likely to pay dearly.

As had long been suspected, it looks as if the Bush administration is seeking to tie its successor to its own failed policies, and make it difficult, if not impossible, for a candidate such as Barack Obama, if he is ever elected president, to withdraw US forces from Iraq, as he has pledged.

The US wants Iraq to sign a so-called "Status of Forces Agreement" (SOFA) by July 31, to replace the United Nations mandate, which expires on December 31, and which has so far provided the legal cover for the presence of "coalition forces" in Iraq.

The obvious and far better alternative would be for the US to seek a new and brief UN mandate - say of six months - to allow the next American president to assess the situation next year and make his own decisions.

Continued . . .