Sadrists condemn SOFA

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Sadrist Movement told Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus Wednesday it had gathered 90 votes against the security pact with Washington.

Assad welcomed a delegation from the Sadrist Movement, a party loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr, that was headed by Muhanad al-Ghrawi and party chairman Aqil Abdul-Hussein, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

The delegation told the Syrian president it was strongly opposed to the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement set to replace the U.N. mandate for Iraq, adding it had secured more than 90 votes in opposition to the agreement.

The measure is in the hands of a three-member presidential council in Baghdad and needs the approval of the 275-member Iraqi Parliament before taking force.

The Sadrist representatives told Assad they opposed the measure on the grounds it made Iraq a surrogate of the United States and undermined national sovereignty. Assad also received a letter from Sadr condemning a U.S. military operation in Syrian territory last weekend.

Meanwhile, the news agency Voices of Iraq reported that Sadrist lawmakers in Baghdad called on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to pull combat troops from Iraq.

"Obama's victory is an internal affair, and he made promises to pull out troops from Iraq," said Sadrist spokesman Ahmed al-Massoudi. "The Iraqi people do not care about who will lead America, they only care about their independence."