News Service from House Harris

MID: Shi'ites gather in Baghdad to protest US-Iraq pact

BAGHDAD, Nov 21 AP - Thousands of followers of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converged on a central Baghdad square on Friday for a mass prayer to protest a proposed US-Iraqi security pact.

The demonstrators waved Iraqi flags and green Shi'ite banners, chanting, "No, no to the American agreement!" and, "No, no to the agreement of humiliation!"

Iraq's parliament is expected to vote on Monday on the plan to keep US forces in Iraq for another three years. But the noisy opposition by the Sadrists indicates that even if it is approved, the deal could remain divisive in a country struggling for reconciliation.

Opponents view the security deal as a surrender to US interests despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, saying the pact would eventually lead to full sovereignty.

"Let the government know that America is and will not be of any use to us because it is the enemy of Islam," al-Sadr said in a sermon ready by his representative Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi.

"The government must know that it is the people who help it in the good andthe bad times. If it throws the occupier out, all the Iraqi people will stand by it," he said, using common rhetoric for the United States.

He also reiterated that his followers in both the armed and the peaceful factions of his movement will continue to work for the removal of US forces.

The sermon was punctuated by chants of "Yes, yes to Muqtada!" and "No, no to America!"

The protest was being held at Firdous Square, where US Marines tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein in one of the iconic images of the US-led invasionin 2003.

Organisers placed an effigy of US President George W Bush holding a sign that read, "The security agreement ... shame and humiliation" on the pedestalnear a sculpture that replaced the Saddam statue.

Many protesters arrived at the square on foot or by bus and carried prayer rugs, pieces of cardboard or newspapers for the mass prayer.

Security was tight, with the area closed to unofficial traffic and heavily guarded by Iraqi security forces.

The Cabinet has approved the agreement, meaning it stands a good chance of passage in the 275-seat parliament where the government's parties dominate.But for al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, its senior government partner, the margin of support is almost as important as the victory itself. A narrow vote for approval will cast doubt on the legitimacy of the new terms governing the US troop presence.

Al-Sadr's followers and other legislators opposed to the pact also try to could use the narrow vote to turn their anti-American message into a defining issue in provincial elections on January 31 and general elections late in2009.

If the agreement passes the legislature, it will go to the president and his two deputies for ratification. Each one has veto power.

AP jnb=0A