Top cleric wants return to Iraqi sovereignty

Melbourne News.Net
Tuesday 18th November, 2008

The Grand Ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, has said any agreement on US troops in Iraq should restore the nation's full sovereignty.

While he said he would leave passage of the deal to Iraqi legislators, the influential cleric made his statement as the US/Iraq agreement was being debated in parliament.

The agreement should see all American troops out in three years while replacing a UN mandate governing the US presence.

The current UN mandate is set to expire in six weeks.

The new agreement follows the transfer to Iraq of security responsibilities in many of its provinces, which have been essentially free of violence over the past year.

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