Sadrists denounce emerging US-Iraq deal

[G_j]

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=310454


Sadrists denounce emerging US-Iraq deal

Al-Sadr supporters denounce emerging US-Iraq deal on US troop pullback

KARIN LAUB
AP News

Aug 22, 2008 09:59 EST

Several thousand supporters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protested Friday against an emerging U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, saying it would turn Iraq into a U.S. colony.


The march in the southern city of Kufa came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to discuss the deal, which includes a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Under a draft agreement, American combat troops would pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June and leave Iraq by 2011, according to Iraqi officials familiar with the document.

The schedule could be modified if the two governments agree, and the pact has not been approved by either the Iraqi Cabinet or the parliament, which has the final decision.

Al-Sadr, who lives in Iran but retains significant political clout in Iraq, strongly opposes the U.S. military presence. Al-Sadr and other critics fear that the pullout deal will bind the U.S. and Iraq in a long-term security relationship, instead of restoring Iraqi sovereignty.

In Kufa, about 2,000 Sadrists marched after Friday noon prayers, chanting, "No to America," and raising pictures of al-Sadr. They held up banners reading "The dubious agreement means a permanent colonization of Iraq" and "Iraq is not a U.S. colony."

,,more..

[SoCalDem]

1. I've said it many times.. Al Sadr will be the new ruler of Iraq

and all the fancy deals that are concocted will be gone, baby, gone..

He did not "stand down"..He's a pragmatist..a longterm thinker.

he gave his army a vacation...why waste the lives of HIS soldiers during a "surge".

Time is on HIS side...not ours.

Iraq's oil should be NONE of our business.. They cannot eat the stuff or wear it or bathe in it or drink it. They MUST sell it, so why not let THEM decide which companies will "develop" their fields, and if we want to buy it, let them sell it to us.

All the US-puppets will be "removed" as soon as we start to leave, and Iraq will eventually have their own people in place, with Al Sadr as their leader.

Once the $urge-payola payments stop, we are done there..

[G_j]

2. I'm afraid you are right

"Once the $urge-payola payments stop, we are done"

[SoCalDem]

3. We keep picking fights in countries that mark time in the thousands of years

when we are thinking in 4-year cycles..

[madokie]

4. Yes I agree with that

Al Sadr will be the new ruler of Iraq