LOC20:12
17:12 GMT
BAGHDAD, May 31 (KUNA) -- Former Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim Al-Jafari
condemned on Saturday the Iraqi-U.S. Strategic Partnership as "humiliating"
and urged the national political forces to oppose the extension of the deal
being pushed by the incumbent government.
"The deal is humiliating for the Iraqi people," said Jafari, who is also
chairman of the newly-formed National Reform Trend, in statements to the press
here.
His statements express an implicit defection in the Islamic Dawa Party, led
by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Jafari was a founding leader and spokesman
of the Dawa which is a Shiite conservative political party.
In the press conference he said his new political bloc grouped several
political parties and prominent independent politicians who are opposed to
sectarianism, parliamentary quotas and militias.
"The bloc aims to bridge the gaps and correct the imbalances created in
Iraqi since the collapse of the former regime," he pointed out.
The Iraqi government is pushing for extension of the Iraqi-U.S. Strategic
Partnership deal which was singed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and
U.S. President George W. Bush in early November, 2007.
The agreement provides for strategic partnership between the two countries
and sanctions a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq to protect it from
"foreign threats" and maintain its internal stability. (end)
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