Thousands Protest in Iraq Against U.S. Troops Pact, Burn Bush Effigy

[tekisui]

(PICS at link)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched Friday against a pact letting U.S. forces stay in Iraq until 2011, toppling an effigy of President George W. Bush where U.S. troops once tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein.

Thousands of demonstrators chanted and waved Iraqi flags in Baghdad's Firdos square, where U.S. forces pulled down a statue of the ousted Iraqi dictator when they took the city in 2003.

The pact, approved by both governments and now being debated rancorously in the Iraqi parliament, requires U.S. troops to leave the streets of Iraqi towns by the middle of next year and to leave the country by December 31, 2011.

U.S. forces will need Iraqi warrants to arrest people, and U.S. contractors will be subjected to Iraqi law.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki obtained important concessions from the United States in months of grueling negotiations, and has ridiculed the Sadrists for demanding a firm date for a U.S. withdrawal, only to oppose it when he delivered it in the pact.

Bush had long opposed setting a deadline. His elected successor, Democrat Barack Obama, says he will withdraw combat forces within 16 months of taking office in January.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4AF0GY20081121

[midnight]

1. So they are not handing us out chocolates anymore? I guess

it's time to pack up the kids and bring them home.

[zbdent]

4. I took a killing in my startup of an Iraqi "rose petal" selling business ...

[KharmaTrain]

2. Let The "Games" Begin...The Lull Is All But Over...

My biggest hope is that we won't have a single US soldier in Iraq by Mid 2010...the soonest we can get them out in a safe and orderly fashion. Here's hoping the lid can stay on this cauldron as all sides are just waiting for how this deal works out...the various factions within Iraq are rested, armed and just waiting for us to punch our ticket out before the ultimate battle for control of the country and its resources begin. We have two options...the first is to "declare victory" and get the hell out, or try to "mediate" and nation build a little longer and have to shoot our way out.

The real losers in this deal will be the contractors...how long will they stick around?

But then with our country going into financial meltdown, Iraq is no longer "luxuary" we can afford.

[jimshoes]

3. Hey, Richard Perle,

tell me, is this the grand square where you envisioned the Iraqi's and a statue of g w bush?