Anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a mass protest on Friday against negotiations between Washington and Baghdad on keeping U.S. troops in the country beyond 2008. "We invite Iraqis to join us for a mass demonstration after Friday prayers unless the government cancels this agreement," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on Tuesday.He said the protests would continue nationwide until the government agreed to hold a referendum on the continued U.S. presence. Sadr pulled his bloc out of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government last year in protest at his refusal to negotiate a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Sadr called for a million-strong march against the U.S. presence in April but later called it off for security reasons.
The United States is negotiating with Iraq on a Status of Forces Agreement aimed at giving a legal basis to U.S. troops after December 31, when their United Nations mandate expires. Maliki met his top officials on Tuesday to discuss the negotiations.
Democrat lawmakers in the United States fear the new agreement will commit the U.S. military to a long-term presence in Iraq, while Iraqis such as Sadr's followers see it as a surrender of Iraq's sovereignty to an occupying force. "We will collect a petition with signatures of the Iraqi people, who are against this deal," Sadr said.