We have been focusing on the election, with good reason. But I thought it important to remember what is happening elsewhere. In this diary, I bring you some of the latest news from Iraq.
A draft Status of Forces agreement has been completed and is considered to be uncertain of approval. On Friday,the BBC reported:
Senior Iraqi officials involved in months of detailed wrangling with the Americans over their Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) believe the draft accord now being circulated is the best deal they can get.
But that will not be enough to win automatic support for the agreement from all of Iraq's fractious groups, some of which are bitterly opposed to any continuing US presence, irrespective of the agreement's details.
More after the jump.
Muqtada al-Sadr called for protests of the agreement this week-end. Other Shiite parties also oppose the agreement.
McClatchy News reports:
BAGHDAD — Tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in the streets of Baghdad Saturday against a proposed American-Iraqi deal that would allow U.S. troops to stay in the country for three more years.
Muqtada al Sadr , a widely influential Shiite cleric who called for the demonstration, issued a statement demanding that Iraq's parliament reject the deal.
"These are the Iraqi people in front of you, rejecting this agreement," Sadr's statement said. "The treaty is in your hands, so the destiny and reputation of Iraq also is in your hands ... If (the government) told you that this agreement will give you sovereignty, they are liars."
This article also states that Shiia groups were joined by Sunnis, although the Sunni in general have supported the agreement. A BBC report does not mention this.
Chanting slogans and waving banners, tens of thousands of Shias, mainly young men, marched on the eastern suburb of Sadr City towards the centre of Baghdad.
Iraq regards blanket immunity for US troops as undermining its sovereignty.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says Moqtada Sadr's militant opposition to the US presence has strong grassroots support among many Shias - and this was a physical manifestation of that opposition.
A New York Times story reports:
BAGHDAD — Hopes that a security agreement between Iraq and the United States could be concluded swiftly receded Sunday as several of the leading Iraqi political parties, including some that had negotiated the agreement, appeared to back away from quick approval.
In a public statement posted on semiofficial government Web sites, the United Iraqi Alliance, which represents several powerful Shiite parties that back the government, said it could not endorse the pact as written and wanted amendments. It formed a committee on Saturday to survey alliance member opinions.
And the pact is meeting with Sunni resistance as well. From the Times article:
The largest Sunni bloc in Parliament, Tawafiq, also hesitated to endorse the agreement. The hesitation came as a surprise because until recently Sunnis had been supportive of the American presence since they viewed the troops as a bulwark against a repetition of the sectarian violence that forced many from their homes in and around Baghdad.
The reticence may be related to the fact that, like Mr. Maliki, they do not want to alienate staunch nationalists who may be undecided about their candidates in the provincial elections. The most stridently nationalist parties, like that of the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, have long opposed any agreement.
"We are still reviewing the last draft of the security pact, and there’s no final position yet," said Salim al-Jubouri, the spokesman for Tawafiq. "Some of the articles are not clear for us, and we need to find out more about them from the American side. Generally, we think that the pact has a great interest for the Iraqi people."
Meanwhile, violence continues around Iraq. From another BBC report:
At least 1,300 Christian families have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul after an upsurge of violence against them by Muslim extremists, the authorities say.
Thousands of people have sought refuge in outlying villages since last week after a dozen Christians were murdered, said local official Jawdat Ismail.
...
About a third of Iraq's estimated 800,000 Christians are believed to have fled abroad since the invasion of 2003.
...
More than 8,300 people have fled the violence, blamed on Sunni militants, this month, according to the Associated Press news agency.
And the NY Times article reports:
In Baghdad, three improvised explosive devices blew up on Sunday, killing two people and wounding 22. Also, the police announced that they had apprehended three of the men that they believed were responsible for the death of Saleh al-Ugaili, a Parliament member in the bloc aligned with Mr. Sadr. Mr. Ugaili was killed on Oct. 9 when a bomb exploded as he drove by.
In a rural area near Balad, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad, gunmen attacked the home of a man whose brother is a leader of the local Awakening Council, which has been fighting Sunni extremists. Five people in the house were reported killed, all of them Awakening members.
Note: For some reason, I have not been able to link to the BBC articles. You can find them at BBC World.