Iraqi legislators split on U.S. pact
Sadrists walk out as debate opens
BAGHDAD – An attempt to open debate on a pact allowing U.S. troops to stay in Iraq through 2011 degenerated into a yelling match in Parliament here Wednesday, casting doubt on Iraqi and U.S. officials’ hopes of easy passage.
Iraqi legislators were to try again today to discuss the security agreement, but it was clear from Wednesday’s session that political factions were more divided on the issue than when it was given to Parliament members Monday.
The discord does not bode well for passage by Nov. 25, when lawmakers are expected to begin a nearly monthlong break. If the pact is not approved by the end of the year, it would leave U.S. forces without legal standing to be in Iraq come Jan. 1.
Lawmakers loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq immediately, accused security guards in Parliament of roughing up one of their legislators when he tried to prevent debate.
“Terrorism has entered the hall of the Parliament,” an al-Sadr bloc lawmaker, Aqeel Abdul Hussein, said after lawmakers spilled out of the meeting hall without discussing the agreement.
Lawmakers from three other political blocs joined the Sadrists in condemning what they called bullying by bodyguards inside Parliament, and they vowed to boycott further sessions.
The groups don’t have enough combined seats to prevent a quorum in the 275-seat legislature, assuming enough other lawmakers showed up, but their action will deny Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the backing he needs to avoid deepening rifts that have hobbled reconciliation efforts. Al-Maliki also faces provincial and national elections next year and cannot afford to be seen as backing a plan that foes describe as overly favorable to the Americans.
U.S. officials also are pushing for passage of the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were briefing members of Congress on the plan Wednesday.
If Iraqi lawmakers reject the agreement, it would be an embarrassment to U.S. officials, who spent nearly nine months in negotiations with Iraqi officials and made several concessions to win al-Maliki’s backing. When al-Maliki’s Cabinet approved the pact 27-1 Sunday and passed it onto Parliament, U.S. officials had hoped this was a sign that Iraq’s factions could rally behind a common goal of Iraqi sovereignty.
The U.S. concessions included agreeing to a firm deadline for the withdrawal of American forces: Dec. 31, 2011. The United States also agreed to pull its combat troops out of Iraqi cities, towns and villages by the end of June 2009.