Security pact dishonor like Camp David – Sadr

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday said that the Iraq-U.S. security pact dishonors those who sign it, calling on the Iraqi government to reject it. “The government should reject the pact because Iraqi people rejected it,” Sheikh Hadi al-Mohammedawi said in a speech addressed to a Sadrist rally of demonstrators in Baghdad on Sadr’s behalf. “This pact is similar to Camp David and Sykes-Picot agreements,” he added. “Don’t forget the martyrs of Iraq, the resistance and parliament,” said Mohammedawi. “God will not forget your efforts,” he addressed Sadrist protesters. The Sadris bloc occupies 30 seats out of 275 in the Iraqi council of representatives (parliament). The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and France defining their respective spheres of influence and control in west Asia after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The agreement was concluded on May 16, 1916. It did not contemplate the League of Nations system of mandates that were developed during the post-war period. The terms were negotiated by the French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and Briton Sir Mark Sykes. The Camp David Accords were signed by late Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1987, following twelve days of secret negotiations at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David. The two agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by the then U.S. president, Jimmy Carter. The Accords led directly to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. MH (S)/AmR 1