World

Iraqis take to the streets to protest US security deal

by julianw | June 20, 2008 at 08:54 am

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The propsed U.S.-Iraq security pact, which would, among other things allow the U.S. to maintain bases in Iraq over the long term, has received almost no media coverage in North America. In Iraq itself, however, the pact is drawing the ire of Shiites aligned with Muqtada al-Sadr, and the media has started to take notice.

Hundreds of followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets after Friday prayers in Shiite areas to protest plans for a longterm security pact between Iraq and the United States.

Iraqi officials and lawmakers have opposed the proposed security pact, which would provide a legal framework for the presence of U.S.-led forces after a U.N. mandate expires later this year. The opposition claims it infringes Iraq's independence and sovereignty.

Sadrist Sheik Assad al-Nassiri warned the agreement, which faces a July 31 target date for completion, will "humiliate Iraqis, rob the Iraqi government of its sovereignty and give the occupier the upper hand."

"We do believe that the presence of the occupation is the main reason behind all of our crises, and unfortunately we hear some of our government officials calling on the occupation forces to stay," he said during a sermon in Kufa.

Meanwhile, President Bush says he "understands" Iraq's concerns.

US President George Bush told Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari that he understood the ongoing disagreements in Iraq over a bilateral deal on US military presence in the country, a foreign ministry statement said Thursday.

In a meeting with Zebari in Washington, Bush expressed 'US respect for Iraq's sovereignty and the will of its people,' a statement issued by Iraq's Foreign Ministry