Shi'i cleric Mohammed Taqqi Al-Mudarressi warns of a popular uprising against Iraq-US long-term agreement

Shi'i cleric Mohammed Taqqi Al-Mudarressi warns of a popular uprising against Iraq-US long-term agreement

Karbala - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 08 /06 /2008 Time 5:41:53
Karbala, Jun8, (VOI)-

A renowned Iraqi Shi'i cleric on Sunday warned that a popular uprising may erupt if Iraq signs the long-term agreement with the U.S .

The proposed security agreement would cover the status of U.S troops in Iraq, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity for security contractors after United Nations resolution governing U.S forces in Iraq expires in December.

Speaking to reporters and clerics in Karbala, grand ayatollah Mohammed Taqqi al-Mudarressi said “the proposed security agreement between Iraq and the U.S lacks the overall and in-depth vision of Iraq’s general affairs”.

The cleric expected “the agreement would fail if the details of the deal remained as they are in the current draft”, adding “ signing the agreement came while Iraq is deprived of sovereignty under chapter seven of (the Security Council charter).

He branded the agreement as “ a sort of US blackmailing and a sword strangling Iraqis”.

“Infringing Iraq’s sovereignty would not be in the US interests as a superpower because the agreement humiliates people’s dignity, pushing them to uprise and to start a new cycle of violence”, he pointed out.

Influential Shi'i clerics in Iraq and neighbouring Iran oppose the deal.

They have vowed to stage protests to force the government of (US-backed) Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to roll back the deal, which is expected to be concluded by the end of July.

A declaration of principles was signed between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008 to be effective as of January 1, 2009.

The agreement governs the U.S. forces' presence in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence currently relies on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government.

The agreement will not be valid unless it commands a national consensus and be approved by the Iraqi parliament and the presidency board.

Al-Mudarressi is a Karbala-based grand ayatollah and key cleric of religious Shi'i authority that has a strong sway in Iraq.

Karbala, the second hold Shi'i city after Najaf, lies 110 km south-west Baghdad
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