Govt. approval on pact “meaningless”, parl. to reject it – Sadrists

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The government’s approval on the security pact between Iraq and the United States is “meaningless”, according to a spokesman for Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc said. “This approval is meaningless because the agreement will be rejected by the parliament,” Ahmed al-Massoudi said in statements to IraqiNews.com. An Iraqi government spokesman had said that the cabinet approved the status-of-forces agreement (SOFA) with a majority of 27 votes to one. “The agreement will be referred to the Iraqi parliament today for voting,” Ali al-Dabbagh said in a press conference held today. “The cabinet approved the pact in an extraordinary several hours’ session held today and referred to parliament,” the source said in statements to IraqiNews.com, adding a press conference will be held to announce approval to sign the agreement. The Iraqi and U.S. sides have been negotiating a long-term security deal, known as the status-of-forces agreement (SOFA), during the past months. The pact should determine the legal framework for the U.S. presence in Iraq after the end of this year, when the international mandate granted by the UN Security Council to the U.S. army to intervene in Iraq is due to expire. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in a meeting on Saturday with Vice Presidents Adel Abdelmahdi and Tareq al-Hashemi, had discussed the security deal and the proposals offered by both sides over it. AmR (S) 1