Sadrist bloc says still resolved to reject SOFA

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The official spokesman for Sadrist bloc Ahmed al-Massoudi said on Wednesday that his bloc still resolved to reject the U.S. troop withdrawal agreement known as the status of forces agreement (SOFA), considering the vote on it as “unconstitutional”. “The parliament’s chairmanship decided to delay today’s session two hours and demanded to end the military presence around the parliament,” al-Massoudi told IraqiNews.com. “The reason behind the decision to delay the session from 1:00pm until 3:00pm on Wednesday still unknown,” he added. “The vote on the agreement will be unconstitutional, because the first and second readings were unconstitutional,” he explained. Parliament will hold a session on Wednesday to vote on the agreement after completing the first and second readings, as well as other discussions over it. The Iraqi cabinet last week had approved with an overwhelming majority of 27 votes to one the security pact between Iraq and the United States, also known as the status of forces agreement (SOFA), and was referred to Parliament for voting. SOFA should legalize the presence of U.S. forces in Iraqi territories after the end of this year, when the deadline given for a UN Security Council mandate for the U.S. army to intervene in Iraq is scheduled to expire. SOFA will replace a United Nations mandate governing the U.S. presence in Iraq, due to expire on Dec. 31, and has been agreed on by the Bush administration. Under the proposed agreement, U.S. troops will exit Iraqi towns and cities by the middle of 2009, and the entire country by the end of 2011. The law also curbs U.S. powers to detain Iraqi citizens and conduct military operations. SOFA had drawn wide-scale local popular and political controversy after the cabinet endorsed it on last week, particularly from the Sadrist bloc of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. In accordance with the Iraqi constitution, SOFA cannot be effective before the parliament approves it. SH (S) 1