McClatchy is reporting that the United States is demanding fifty-eight military bases as part of a military agreement between Washington and Baghdad which would facilitate America's long-term occupation of Iraq. Currently, the United States operates about thirty major bases in the country.

The current UN mandate through which the US is occupying Iraq expires on December 31 of this year. American officials are therefore reportedly determined to conclude the alliance with Iraq by July 31, in order to allow time for parliamentary deliberations in Iraq.

No such interest in parliamentary concerns will likely emerge in the United States, however. By not officially classifying the alliance as a "treaty," the Bush administration apparently is planning on bypassing the Senate's constitutional right to review and approve any treaties between the United States and other countries.

While the proposed alliance has been roundly ignored by the major newspapers and television stations in the United States, it has elicited widespread protest in Iraq, the subject of a May 31 posting on this site.

As far as I know, Juan Cole has written more about this than anyone else in the American print/internet media.