Shiite Muslims take to the streets of the city of Karbala to show supportfor the Iraqi-US accord (Photo AFP)
Iraqi Parliament Likely To Approve US Pact -- AFP
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq's parliament appeared likely to approve a comprehensive US military pact that would see all troops leave by the end of 2011 despite a loud and contentious debate of the measure on Thursday.
Lawmakers succeeded in holding a second reading of the agreement after hardline Shiite nationalists had shouted it down Wednesday but the raucous session was punctuated by yelling, interruptions, and desk-pounding.
Followers of the hardline anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are fiercely opposed to any agreement with the US "occupier" and his loyalists in parliament have struggled to derail the deal by stalling the discussion of it.
But the measure appeared to have won the support of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the largest bloc in the 275-member assembly with 85 seats, and the two Kurdish blocs which hold 58 seats.
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