Sadr followers rally in Baghdad against U.S. Security Pact
BAGHDAD: More than 10,000 supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad's Firdos Square on Friday to protest the Iraqi government plan to sign a security agreement with the United States.
With powerful symbolism, demonstrators hanged a black-hooded effigy of President George W. Bush from the column that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled by U.S. troops in April 2003.
Removing the hood to beat the effigy with a shoe, they put a whip in its right hand and in its left a briefcase, on which were written the words, "the security agreement is shame and dishonor."
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki this week signed the pact, which would place new limits on the powers of U.S. troops in Iraq but provides for them to stay in the country up to the end of 2011, if the Iraqis so desire. The agreement still needs to be approved by Parliament and the country's three-man Presidency Council.
Maliki has sought to present the agreement as one that significantly extends the authority his government can exercise over U.S. forces. He has criticized the pact's opponents, saying that they have consistently failed to come up with any alternative.
It provides for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi towns by mid-2009, and leave the country entirely by the end of 2011. American troops on duty will operate under American military law, but if they are off duty and outside their bases they could be tried in Iraqi courts if they commit serious crimes.
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And most of the American people don't even know what this pact entails or even that it exists...
With powerful symbolism, demonstrators hanged a black-hooded effigy of President George W. Bush from the column that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled by U.S. troops in April 2003.
Removing the hood to beat the effigy with a shoe, they put a whip in its right hand and in its left a briefcase, on which were written the words, "the security agreement is shame and dishonor."
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki this week signed the pact, which would place new limits on the powers of U.S. troops in Iraq but provides for them to stay in the country up to the end of 2011, if the Iraqis so desire. The agreement still needs to be approved by Parliament and the country's three-man Presidency Council.
Maliki has sought to present the agreement as one that significantly extends the authority his government can exercise over U.S. forces. He has criticized the pact's opponents, saying that they have consistently failed to come up with any alternative.
It provides for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi towns by mid-2009, and leave the country entirely by the end of 2011. American troops on duty will operate under American military law, but if they are off duty and outside their bases they could be tried in Iraqi courts if they commit serious crimes.
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And most of the American people don't even know what this pact entails or even that it exists...
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- Eat_Disco
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- added November 21, 2008
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