BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn’t agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq. Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday. In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ ‘everything’ _ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. ‘I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services.’ Hashimi said that Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, listed ‘tens’ of areas of potential cutoffs in a three-page letter, and he said the implied threat caught Iraqi leaders by surprise. ‘It was really shocking for us,’ he said. ‘Many people are looking to this attitude as a matter of blackmailing.’ Odierno had no comment Sunday, but U.S. Embassy officials told McClatchy that a lengthy list of the sort Hashimi described has been passed to […]