Sadrists denounce emerging US-Iraq deal

BAGHDAD (AP) About 2,000 supporters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (mook-TAH'-duh ahl SAH'-dur) are protesting a pending U.S.-Iraqi security deal, saying it would turn Iraq into a U.S. colony.

Today's march in the southern city of Kufa comes a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to discuss the deal.

Under a draft agreement, U.S. troops would pull out of major Iraqi cities by June 2009 and leave Iraq by 2011. The schedule could be modified if the two governments agree. A final decision on the pact rests with the Iraqi Cabinet and parliament.

Al-Sadr lives in Iran but retains significant political clout in Iraq. He and other critics fear the pullout deal will bind the U.S.

and Iraq in a long-term security relationship, instead of restoring Iraqi sovereignty.

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