Top Iraq leaders discuss future U.S. role

BAGHDAD, June 2 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim to discuss a U.S. security deal with Iraq amid rising tensions over the agreement.

Sunday's meeting with officials from Maliki's Dawa Party and Hakim's group focused on development of "national frameworks upon which such a deal and others with foreign parties should be signed," a statement Monday from the offices of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council read.

Any agreement outlining the legal framework of U.S. military operations in Iraq after Jan. 1, 2009, would require the approval of the 275-member Iraqi Parliament, its five political blocs and the Shiite Fadhila Party and Sadrist Movement of rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr, Voices of Iraq said.

Iraq government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh cautioned, however, that negotiations on the agreement "are still in their early stages, and the Iraqi side has a vision and a draft that is different" from U.S. proposals.

The meeting between Hakim and Maliki comes amid a chorus of voices expressing concern over the U.S. agreement.

Sadr earlier called for a national referendum on the issue and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari distanced himself from the "humiliating" issue.