Sadrist lawmaker criticizes postponed referendum over SOFA

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A spokesman for the Sadrist parliamentary bloc lashed out at the government’s proposal to postpone a referendum over a long-term security agreement with the United States. “The binding decision voted by the parliament was to vote over the security agreement after six months. Accordingly, the request for postponement is violation of that decision,” Ahmed al-Massoudi told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The government is aware that the Iraqi people will turn down the agreement if it is offered for referendum,” Massoudi said. He cast doubts over the government’s intentions about the referendum. “The government does not want it (referendum). It wants Iraq to remain under U.S. occupation,” he said. The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (official name: “Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq”) is a status of forces agreement (SOFA) approved by the Iraqi government in late 2008 between Iraq and the United States. It establishes that U.S. combat forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and all U.S. forces will be completely out of Iraq by December 31, 2011, subject to possible further negotiations which could delay withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-2009 in Iraq which may require U.S. forces to completely leave by the middle of 2010. The pact requires criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and requires a warrant for searches of homes and buildings that are not related to combat. “A referendum would not require a law. It only requires the Independent Higher Electoral Commission (IHEC) to prepare a form about it,” Massoudi noted. AmR (S) 1