Sadr Movement: Immediate Pullout of US Forces from Iraq

A senior member of the Shiite Sadr Movement underlined the necessity for the immediate withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq based on the landmark agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington earlier, and cautioned that extension of the US mission would mean a reoccupation of the war-torn country."legitimizing the presence of the US and foreign military men by Iraq's political leaders under any pretext and condition is strongly condemned and amounts to the occupation of the country in a new form and in new ways," Maha al-Douri told FNA on Wednesday. He blasted the approval of the continued presence of the US trainers in the Iraqi Army, and said the decision meant an endorsement of the crimes and massacres committed by the US forces in Iraq in previous years. The US military agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington at the end of November 2008 stipulates the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq by December 31, 2011 as a deadline. But, the US has been pressing senior Iraqi officials to revise their decision on the US pullout and demand Washington to keep its troops in the country beyond their scheduled departure in the yearend. Iraqi state officials as well as religious and political figures have all condemned the US attempts to extend the mission of its troops in the country. A large number of Iraqi politicians and religious leaders believe that the US is seeking to find or even create a pretext for extending its military presence in the country. Last week, a prominent member of the Iraqi parliament cautioned that the US has slowed down training of Iraq's security forces in a bid to find an excuse to prolong its military presence in the war-torn country. "The US has deliberately avoided strengthening the Iraqi forces and refrained from providing them with the necessary training in an attempt to prepare the ground for extending the security deal for a number of years," Nabil Harbo, who is a member of al-Iraqiya Coalition, told FNA at the time. The lawmaker lashed out at the US for its inaction in fulfilling its undertakings as stipulated in the Baghdad-Washington security deal, and stressed training Iraq's forces is merely an excuse for a longer occupation of the country.