Sadr followers rally in Baghdad against pact with U.S.

BAGHDAD: More than 10,000 supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad's Firdos Square on Friday to protest the Iraqi government plan to sign a security agreement with the United States.

With powerful symbolism, demonstrators hanged a black-hooded effigy of President George W. Bush from the column that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled by U.S. troops in April 2003.

Removing the hood to beat the effigy with a shoe, they put a whip in its right hand and in its left a briefcase, on which were written the words, "the security agreement is shame and dishonor."

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki this week signed the pact, which would place new limits on the powers of U.S. troops in Iraq but provides for them to stay in the country up to the end of 2011, if the Iraqis so desire. The agreement still needs to be approved by Parliament and the country's three-man Presidency Council.

Maliki has sought to present the agreement as one that significantly extends the authority his government can exercise over U.S. forces. He has criticized the pact's opponents, saying that they have consistently failed to come up with any alternative.

It provides for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi towns by mid-2009, and leave the country entirely by the end of 2011. American troops on duty will operate under American military law, but if they are off duty and outside their bases they could be tried in Iraqi courts if they commit serious crimes.

Parliament is expected to vote on the agreement Monday after sometimes rowdy sessions over the past week, during which the Sadrists and other groups have expressed their opposition, or sought concessions from Maliki's government to secure their votes.

Parliament was not sitting Friday, the Muslim holy day, when the opposition rally was held.

It was billed as a cross-faith rally attended by Shiite and Sunni preachers, but the vast majority of those in attendance appeared to be Sadrists, chanting "Moktada! Moktada!" "No, no to America!' and "No, no to the agreement!"

The protesters, many of whom travelled from the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, sat in rows of 50 stretching back almost half a kilometer. They filled Sadoun Street, beside the Palestine Hotel and in front of the colonnaded traffic circle where five years ago American troops pulled down the dictator's statue in scenes televised around the world.

Sadrist officials said they opposed the security agreement because they did not believe assurances that the Americans would leave. They depicted the pact as a successor to colonial-era treaties with Western powers over the past century which, they said, had "sold the Arab and the Muslim lands into occupation."

Reading from a statement by Sadr, one of his followers, Sheik Abdelhadi al-Muhammadawi, said: "America has not and will not be useful. It is the enemy of Islam."

To cheers and cries of "God is great," he continued: "The love of Iraq calls us not to let the foot of the atheists on our ground and to not permit them to stay three minutes, not three years."

Quteiba al-Nadawi, a Sunni preacher, told the crowd: "We have rejected this agreement from the beginning. We are supporting our brothers the Sadrists and we are supporting all honorable Iraqis who reject this agreement. We need freedom for our people and unity for Iraqis."

Iraqi security forces took up positions on rooftops and a mosque overlooking Firdos Square. There was no sign of U.S. forces, and the protest was peaceful throughout.

Maliki's ruling coalition may secure a majority of votes in Parliament but Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has indicated that he believes the deal will only be acceptable to the Iraqi people if it achieves some degree of consensus.

This means Maliki must get some support from Iraq's Sunni minority, many of whom are nervous about seeing American troops depart, fearing Iran and its Shiite allies in Baghdad. source>>>

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