BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The secretary-general of the dissident Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq Wednesday said they are close to liberating Iraq from occupation.
Harith al-Dari, the influential Sunni cleric who heads the AMSI, advised his organization and concerned parties to exercise patience during negotiations over the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement between Washington and Baghdad.
"The end of the occupation is near," he said in a statement published by the group.
The secretary-general noted leading clerics in the AMSI have issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in opposition to the long-term agreement set to replace the expiring U.N. mandate for Iraq, because it is drafted to favor U.S. interests.
It "is an agreement between strong and weak, between the occupier and the representatives of the occupied people," he said.
The group was established immediately following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, in part to support resistance movements. Though it is in strong opposition to the U.S. presence, al-Dari said in a 2007 interview with Time magazine the group was not in line with militants in the country, notably al-Qaida in Iraq.
