Sadr followers gather to protest planned pact
Agreement would extend US presence
BAGHDAD - Thousands of followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated yesterday against an agreement that would extend the US military presence in Iraq, shouting "America out!" and burning an effigy of President Bush.
The rally was held in Firdaus Square, where US troops toppled a statue of President Saddam Hussein in an iconic moment after the 2003 invasion. Yesterday's demonstration followed two days of boisterous protests by Sadr's loyalists in parliament, which is scheduled to vote next week on the agreement.
The Sadrists do not appear to have the strength to derail the bilateral accord, which would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years. The group has only 30 seats in the 275-seat parliament. Yesterday's protest drew at least 10,000 people but was smaller than a massive demonstration held by Sadr loyalists in the same central Baghdad plaza in 2005.
Still, the Sadr group could make the government pay a stiff political price for passing the agreement. Many Iraqis resent the US presence, and the issue could be a potent one in provincial elections scheduled in late January. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government bargained hard in the months of negotiations on the accord, pressing the Bush administration to agree to a pullout date of Dec. 31, 2011.
The Iraqi Cabinet approved the accord this week, indicating that it has the support of most major parties in parliament. But the country's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has said the agreement must win "national consensus," raising the pressure on Maliki to get broad support in the vote expected on Monday.
The prime minister emerged from months of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering to defend the agreement in two televised appearances this week. His allies have also taken to the streets, with thousands of government employees and members of tribal groups holding demonstrations in favor of the agreement in provincial cities. Such rallies were held in five cities in heavily Shi'ite southern Iraq yesterday.
In a thinly veiled attack on the Sadr movement this week, Maliki said that some people "were demanding a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, but they have given that up and their slogans have swung behind negative interests."
At the rally yesterday, the Sadr supporters repeated their demands for an immediate pullout of American troops. "I am with you in evicting the occupier any way you see fit," Sadr said in a message read by a cleric in a white turban.
The crowd, made up mostly of young men, shouted "God is greatest!" and "Yes, yes Moqtada!"
Sadr is the son of one of Iraq's most revered clerics and has a passionate following among poor Shi'ites. He is believed to have spent the past few months in Iran. His Mahdi Army militia battled US troops following the invasion, but over the past year its fighters have largely observed a unilateral cease-fire imposed by Sadr. Sadr has threatened to reactivate the militia if the accord passes.
Although Sadr can still mobilize thousands, his movement has been weakened by arrests and attacks by the Iraqi security forces and US military in recent months. In addition, the militia's reputation for brutality has alienated many Iraqis.
A Shi'ite cleric affiliated with Sistani, the country's leading Shi'ite, expressed concern yesterday that some lawmakers had left the country days before the scheduled vote on the security pact, in order to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The cleric, Abdul Mahdi Kerbalae, accused such parliamentarians of "escaping and failing in their responsibilities" during his sermon at Friday prayers.
But an assistant to Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the parliament speaker, said all lawmakers planning to go to Mecca would travel Nov. 25, the day after the scheduled vote. 