Mullen spoke during the visit with the Iraqi political leaders about the security accord's destiny.
The visit was followed by the Sunni, Kurd and secular Iraqi parties' announcing their tacit agreement with the extension of the agreement in a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani.
The parties tasked Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with drafting a bill on the matter and submitting it to the Iraqi parliament for ratification.
The four-star general insisted on the 'need' for prolonging the accord and granting the Iraq-based US soldiers immunity from legal prosecution.
Washington asked Maliki's government to extend SOFA for another year.
Based on the agreement's previous terms, the forces are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2011.
The 47,000-plus troopers, who are currently deployed on the Iraqi soil, are slated to carry out a gradual pullout.
Washington's desire for continued deployment there runs counter to its paying great human and financial expenses for the presence.
After occupying the country in 2003, the US would spend USD 5,000 every second for the 165,000 forces it had stationed there.
World's military and economic experts estimate that the expenses from the US military presence in Iraq over the past eight years have reached above USD 1,400 trillion in aggregate.
The supernumerary costs have added up to Washington's debt to the foreigners. This, in turn, has inevitably spread dissatisfaction across the American society.
The question now is why the US is insistent upon keeping up the presence despite the costs.
For sure, the recent developments in the Arab world, the fall of the Tunis
The visit was followed by the Sunni, Kurd and secular Iraqi parties' announcing their tacit agreement with the extension of the agreement in a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani.
The parties tasked Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with drafting a bill on the matter and submitting it to the Iraqi parliament for ratification.
The four-star general insisted on the 'need' for prolonging the accord and granting the Iraq-based US soldiers immunity from legal prosecution.
Washington asked Maliki's government to extend SOFA for another year.
Based on the agreement's previous terms, the forces are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2011.
The 47,000-plus troopers, who are currently deployed on the Iraqi soil, are slated to carry out a gradual pullout.
Washington's desire for continued deployment there runs counter to its paying great human and financial expenses for the presence.
After occupying the country in 2003, the US would spend USD 5,000 every second for the 165,000 forces it had stationed there.
World's military and economic experts estimate that the expenses from the US military presence in Iraq over the past eight years have reached above USD 1,400 trillion in aggregate.
The supernumerary costs have added up to Washington's debt to the foreigners. This, in turn, has inevitably spread dissatisfaction across the American society.
The question now is why the US is insistent upon keeping up the presence despite the costs.
For sure, the recent developments in the Arab world, the fall of the Tunis
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