Sadr: 'Beware' of supporting Washington

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Influential Shiite clerics and lawmakers issued a variety of edicts in opposition to the long-term security arrangement with the United States.

Washington and Baghdad are finalizing the details of a bilateral accord set to replace the expiring U.N. mandate for Iraq, to mixed reviews.

Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said he will speak with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf and Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Lebanese Hezbollah, in the coming days.

In translations provided by Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based non-profit, Lebanese Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah set a variety of conditions for Iraqi lawmakers to consider when assessing the viable security agreement that assures national sovereignty, including full military responsibility.

"There will be no stability in Iraq without a full withdrawal by the occupier," he said.

For his part, Iraqi-born and Iranian-based Grand Ayatollah Kadhim al-Husseini al-Hairi issued a statement from his offices in Najaf that the SOFA "must not be signed" by Iraqi lawmakers, the MEMRI translation said.

Meanwhile, radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said through a statement issued by his officials in Baghdad that Iraqi lawmakers should vote against the agreement in earnest.

"(The decision on) the pact is in your hands, and therefore the fate and the reputation of Iraq is in your hands. So beware of voting for (the pact); in fact, you must all vote against it," the statement read.