Just a tad imperial

All the ostensible progress in Iraq isn't going to offset this. It's an article in The Independent (by the invaluable Patrick Cockburn) on how the US is using its hold over $50 billion in Iraqi assets to get an agreement that would allow the US to maintain bases, 150,000 troops and legal immunity for US soldiers and contractors (read "mercenaries").

There is some time sensitivity here as the UN Security Council mandate that covers the U.S. military presence expires on June 15. The Chinese and the Russians are unlikely to smile upon a renewal of that mandate.

One interesting wrinkle is the administration's argument that this is an agreement rather than a treaty, and therefore doesn't require Senate approval. Although Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) themselves generally don't require Senate approval, they also usually take place in the framework of a treaty that does (NATO, the defense agreement with South Korea). Certainly, it would be difficult to argue that an agreement that doesn't directly get Senate approval or isn't derived from a Senate-approved agreement (i.e., a treaty), would be at all binding on the incoming administration.