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Shiite bloc withholds its approval of US-Iraq pact

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 11:05

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ruling Shiite coalition withheld support Sunday for the proposed security pact that would keep US troops here for three more years, dealing a setback to American hopes of a speedy approval of the agreement.

Iraqi Army Special Forces break into a house after receiving a tip on possible presence of weapons in the Al-Taliaa village. Iraq's top leaders were meeting late Sunday to review a controversial security pact with the US that will determine American troop deployments beyond this year. [Agencies]

The statement by the United Iraqi Alliance called for unspecified changes to the draft agreement, which parliament must ratify by the end of the year, when the UN mandate expires.

The group's move comes a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators, mostly Shiites, took to the streets of Baghdad to show their opposition to the agreement.

The Shiite alliance holds 85 of parliament's 275 seats and al-Maliki needs solid support from the alliance to win approval of the agreement by a strong majority.

The 30 lawmakers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have already said they will vote against the agreement, and some Sunni lawmakers have spoken out against it too.

In its statement, the alliance said the agreement, hammered out in months of difficult negotiations, contained some "positive points" but more time was needed "for discussion, dialogue and to amend some of its articles."

The alliance established a committee to solicit views and study the agreement in detail, the statement added. Al-Maliki aide Yassin Majid said Sunday that the prime minister had postponed a planned visit this week to Australia to deal with the security agreement.

The alliance did not specify what it considered positive or negative, and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned it would be difficult to reopen negotiations.

The agreement provides for American troops to leave Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June and withdraw from the country entirely by the end of 2011 unless the government asks them to stay.

It would also give Iraq limited authority to prosecute US soldiers and contractors for crimes committed off post and off duty, limit US authority to search homes and detain people and give Iraqis more say in the conduct of American military operations.

Al-Maliki aide Sami al-Askari told The Associated Press that several members of the alliance wanted to remove language allowing the government to ask any Americans to stay beyond the end of 2011.

He also said some members wanted to know who would decide whether crimes committed by Americans met the standard for Iraqi trials.

Hassan al-Suneid, a lawmaker from al-Maliki's party, said members had reservations about portions "that don't comply with Iraq's sovereignty."

"We cannot talk today about rejection or acceptance in the absolute," al-Suneid said. "There are weak and strong points," including a timeline for the departure of American troops.

Some lawmakers complained the language in the draft was vague, especially where it concerns US military operations and legal jurisdiction over American troops and contractors.

Although the alliance did not reject the accord outright, the review process within a coalition whose leaders negotiated the accord could well mean that parliament will not vote on the agreement until after the November 4 US election.

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