Hardline Iraqi MPs shout down US pact in parliament
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Lawmakers loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shouted down the Iraqi parliament's second reading on Wednesday of a military pact allowing US troops to remain in Iraq until the end of 2011.
The agreement, approved by the cabinet on Sunday, has been fiercely criticised by the Sadrists, who oppose any deal with the US "occupier" and have vowed to derail it with legislative manoeuvres and mass demonstrations.
On Wednesday, they managed to force an adjournment.
The accord would govern the more than 150,000 US troops in more than 400 bases across Iraq when their UN mandate expires on December 31, and will require them to withdraw from all cities and towns by the end of June 2009.
At the start of the parliamentary session, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari urged lawmakers to act quickly, saying "We don't have to be ashamed with the results of the negotiations. There are no secret items. All is public."
But when MP Hassan al-Sined began reading the agreement, Sadrist deputies drowned out his voice by pounding on their tables, according to parliamentary sources who described the session to an AFP correspondent outside.
Parliamentary sessions are closed to the public, including the press, but state-run Iraqiya television sometimes airs excerpts from the proceedings, as it did on Wednesday until the pandemonium broke out.
Minutes later Sadrist MP Ahmed al-Masaudi tried to approach Zebari but the foreign minister's security detail pushed him away, a parliamentary source said.
Sadrist MP Falah Shanshal later told reporters that Masaudi was struck by the guards.
At that point parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani adjourned the session, postponing the reading until Thursday.
Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi warned that the deal provided no guarantees of a US withdrawal.
"The American forces can stay with all their numbers until the end of 2011 then ask to extend the period to prepare their withdrawal," Obeidi told reporters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
"Everyone knows the American forces will make the final decision and there is no one to prevent them if they transgress the agreement."
Parliament had planned to vote on the accord on November 24 before adjourning for recess, while the Sadrists have vowed to hold a mass demonstration against the military pact in Baghdad on Friday.
Meanwhile, Sunni and Shiite tribes allied with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held demonstrations in several cities across Iraq on Wednesday in support of the accord, saying it would guarantee the pullout of troops and boost security.
Every major political bloc representing the country's Shiite majority and Sunni and Kurdish minorities approved the agreement in the cabinet meeting, and parliament is widely expected to follow suit.
With only 30 deputies in Iraq's 275-member assembly the Sadrists would not be able to defeat the motion alone, since it only has to win a majority for it to be ratified by the presidential council and signed by both countries.