Iraqi debate over deal goes on

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament persevered Thursday in its debate on a proposed security agreement with the United States despite raucous attempts by opposition lawmakers to disrupt proceedings ahead of next week’s vote on the deal.

The measure, which would keep U.S. forces in Iraq for three more years, has a good chance of passing in the Shiite-led parliament. But the uproar created by loyalists of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suggests the pact could remain divisive as the country struggles for reconciliation after years of war.

If al-Sadr’s group and other legislators opposed to the pact lose by a thin margin in the vote planned for Monday, they might attempt to turn their anti-American message into a defining issue in provincial elections Jan. 31 and general elections late in 2009. His followers planned a major rally today in central Baghdad to protest the security deal, which they view as a surrender to U.S. interests.

The demonstration slated for Firdous Square, where U.S. Marines tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein in one of the iconic images of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, is certain to heighten tension in the streets. But the agitation on Thursday was focused on parliament in the heavily protected Green Zone, where opposition lawmakers shouted and pounded desks in a second day of chaotic proceedings.

“The agreement ushers in a new occupation of Iraq, the duration of which we cannot tell,” said Ajeel Abdul-Hussein, the senior Sadrist lawmaker.

In fact, the terms of the pact establish for the first time a clear timetable for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. They must be out of cities by June 30, 2009, and the entire country by the end of 2011. It would also give Iraqi authorities far more oversight over the U.S. military presence than they currently have.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has publicly defended the pact twice this week, first in a nationally televised address Tuesday and then in a news conference Thursday at which he said the deal would eventually lead to full sovereignty.

Al-Maliki noted that the pact allowed for the restoration of Iraq’s control of its airspace. As it stands now, he said, even his own plane or one carrying the Iraqi president needs clearance from the Americans to fly.

The withdrawal timetable before parliament could be moved up, but delaying the departure dates is nonnegotiable, al-Maliki said. He warned the alternative to the pact — a renewal or an extension of the U.N. mandate providing legal cover for U.S. forces in Iraq — is worse. The mandate expires Dec. 31.