Draft U.S.-Iraq pact protested

Baghdad —- Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in the streets of Baghdad Saturday against a proposed American-Iraqi deal that would allow U.S. troops to stay in the country for three more years.

In a message to the marchers, one of al-Sadr’s senior clerics read a statement from him warning that “whoever tells you that this pact gives us sovereignty is lying.”

A leading Sadrist cleric at the rally, Hazim al-Arraji, said: “This is the voice of the Iraqi people from all over Iraq: We need the invaders to leave our country, no one wants them to stay. ‘No invasion! Get out, invaders!’ That will be our slogan.”

The large turnout points to trouble ahead for the U.S.-Iraqi security deal as Sunni and Shiite lawmakers weigh the political risks associated with the agreement.

“I am with every Sunni, Shiite or Christian who is opposed to the agreement … and I reject, condemn and renounce the presence of occupying forces and bases on our beloved land,” al-Sadr’s message said.

The pact, reached after months of negotiations, governs the presence of U.S. troops after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31. Copies of the draft, which became available last week, sparked an intensely public debate among top politicians.

It specifies U.S. troops must leave Iraqi cities by the end of June and be gone by 2012 and gives Iraq limited authority over off-duty, U.S. soldiers who commit crimes, according to a copy obtained by the Associated Press.

The pact must be ratified by the 275-seat parliament, which is riven by the narrow partisan interests, sectarian and ethnic divisions that have defined Iraqi politics since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Next year’s provincial and national elections complicate the pact’s approval because political parties worry that they will lose votes by supporting the deal.

“It is not going to be easy to have parliament adopt the agreement,” said senior Kurdish politician and lawmaker Mahmoud Othman, warning approval will likely be a drawn-out process.

That has left everyone hedging his bet on the agreement —- except for al-Sadr, who lives in Iran but controls 30 seats in parliament.

“I am confident that you brothers in parliament will champion the will of the people over that of the occupier. … Do not betray the people,” al-Sadr said in his message, as the crowd chanted, “Occupier, get out,” and “No, no to America. No, no to the agreement.”

The turnout was expected since al-Sadr’s ability to bring out supporters was never in doubt, but it crushed any hope the Sadrist bloc would support the agreement or remain neutral.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, a Shiite, faces political isolation trying to win parliament’s backing in the face of major opposition.

“The Iraqi and Arab streets perceive the agreement as biased in favor of the Americans. So how can political forces here take a balanced position?” said Salim Abdullah, spokesman for the National Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc.

“I find many of its articles to be good and beneficial for Iraq and that the American administration made some big concessions. But it’s difficult to market it.”