Lebanese Shiite cleric opposes signing U.S-Iraq security pact

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric on Tuesday criticized a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, saying the Iraqi government has no right to “legitimize” the presence of foreign troops. Iraqi-born Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadhlallah said “any security pact should call for an imminent and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.” Fadlallah’s edict (fatwa) came in response to questions by some Shiite MPs in Iraq’s Parliament who asked the cleric’s opinion about the proposed security agreement. The cleric was born in the Iraqi holy Shiite city of Najaf and wields some influence among Iraq’s Shiites. He is one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party. “No authority, establishment, or an official or nonofficial organization has the legitimacy to impose an occupation on its people, legitimize it or extend its stay in Iraq,” Fadhlallah said in the edict published on his Web site. The agreement provides for U.S. troops to leave Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June and fully withdraw from the country by the end of 2011 unless the government asks them to stay or further turbulence rocks the country. It would also give Iraq limited authority to prosecute U.S. soldiers and contractors for crimes committed off-base and off-duty, limit U.S. authority to search homes and detain people and give Iraqis more say in the conduct of American military operations. Fadhlallah said that any agreement should call for an “unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq,” and put a “fixed and imminent timetable for a complete U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.” “No U.S. bases or centers should be allowed to stay,” he stressed, adding that “any American presence would have to be based on normal diplomatic missions.” “The withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq should not be linked to the improvement of the security situation in the country because the Americans can cause security problems in order to extend the stay of their forces,” Fadhlallah added. AM (I)/SR 1