Iraqis voice opposition to security deal

BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and a slew of other lawmakers Friday condemned the long-term security deal reached with the United States.

"I renounce the humiliating agreement between Iraq and the United States," Jaafari said in a statement.

His statements follow a meeting in his Baghdad office with a delegation of Kurdish lawmakers who also voiced opposition to the agreement with Washington, Voices of Iraq said.

Negotiators Thursday finalized a long-awaited security deal between Washington and Baghdad set to replace the expiring U.N. mandate for Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured a resolution on the deal that paves the way for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by 2011. The deal requires the approval of the Iraqi Parliament before taking effect, however.

A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also issued a statement saying Iraqi lawmakers should carefully examine the deal before finalizing the agreement.

"The agreement is very important for Iraqis and cannot rest on one view only," a statement read by Sistani spokesman Ahmed al-Safi said.

Meanwhile, supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr demonstrated in the southern city of Kufa in opposition to the agreement.