But he said the Iraqi government wouldn’t be pressured into accepting terms that compromised Iraq’s rights as a sovereign state. "Our American allies need to understand and realize that this agreement must be respectful of Iraqi sovereignty ... We need them here for a while longer, and they know they have to remain here for a while." American negotiators have hoped the talks would be finished by the end of July, but al-Maliki’s remarks — as well as those by influential members of parliament — make that deadline seem unrealistic. Full Article at Lawrence Journal World