Lawmakers call on Obama to pull out troops from Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi lawmakers of different parliamentary blocs called on the newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama to withdraw his country’s forces, to achieve Iraq’s “sovereignty and independence.” Ali al-Adeeb, legislature from the Unified Iraqi Alliance (UIA), told IraqiNews.com “Obama promised his constituents to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, and we hope that this issue will become a part of his agenda and the withdrawal will take place at the suitable time.” “What Iraq currently cares about is a full U.S. pull out of Iraq as soon as possible, considering circumstances on the ground, and not leave a security or military vacuum in Iraq,” he said. Fawzai Akram, parliamentarian for the Sadr bloc, told IraqiNews.com “We demand Obama to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, to achieve sovereignty and independence for Iraqis.” “I hope that major changes would occur in the U.S. policy, especially after the promises made by Obama, stressing his attempts to impose peace worldwide,” he said. For his part, lawmaker Hashim al-Taee of the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) told IraqiNews.com “the Iraqi-U.S. security pact is moving ahead.” “The pact will be signed soon, and will not be affected by the new president,” he said. But legislature Mohammed al-Mehmedawi of al-Fadila bloc said “Obama advised Iraqi politicians not to sign the pact.” “He did so because he believed that if the pact would not be signed, it would be a landmark for republicans’ policy failure in Iraq,” he noted. MH (S)/SR      3