Iraqi lawmakers brawl over Security Pact

This is from the NYTimes.

I am a bit surprised at this. Sadr actually is often opportunistic and in this situation I thought he might go along with the pact. However, the revisions do little to extend Iraqi control over the US armed forces or contractors when "on mission" although it seems that even this limited sovereignty does not sit well with Americans. However US legislators apparently will have no say on the matter! Rather interesting that what is to a considerable extent a puppet government actually has more direct say than US legislators!
It would seem that there are enough powerful blocs behind the SOFA to have it pass unless the parliament cannot restore order!

November 20, 2008
Iraqi Lawmakers Brawl Over Security Pact
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and SUADAD AL-SALHY
BAGHDAD — A session of Iraq’s Parliament collapsed in chaos on Wednesday, as a discussion among lawmakers about a three-year security agreement with the Americans boiled over into shouting and physical confrontation.
The session was dedicated to a second public reading of the agreement, which governs the presence of American troops in Iraq through 2011 and which the Parliament is scheduled to vote on Monday. Even before the session began, legislators were apprehensive.
“There is much tension inside the Parliament,” said Iman al-Asadi, a Shiite lawmaker, shortly before the session was scheduled to start. “We worry that they will fight each other inside the room.”
Lawmakers who support the pact said they were worried in particular about the followers of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who make up a bloc of 32 legislators in the 275-member Parliament. While there are those in Parliament, like many Sunnis, who have objections to elements of the pact, the Sadrists reject any agreement with the Americans in principle.
In a departure from protocol, security guards were present in the room, both because of the tension and because several Iraqi government officials were in attendance to answer questions about the agreement. Hoshyar Zebari, the foreign affairs minister, said the guards were unarmed.
As soon as the session began, politicians in opposition to the pact stood up in the hall and volubly argued that the ratification process was unconstitutional, because a law governing the passage of international agreements has not been approved. Supporters say such a law is unnecessary, because Parliament had already ratified numerous agreements without one.
For the next two hours, the Parliament speaker, Mahmoud Mashhadani, lashed out at the objecters and refused their demands to change the Parliament agenda. He then invited Hassan al-Sneid, a Shiite lawmaker, to begin the second public reading of the agreement, a matter of parliamentary procedure.
As Mr. Sneid began reading, witnesses said, Sadrists and other opponents of the agreement continued to trade shouts with lawmakers who supported it. Then, Ahmed Masu’udi, a Sadrist lawmaker, approached the dais. Mr. Masu’udi said later in an interview that he was simply trying to reach Mr. Mashhadani to persuade him to stop the reading; several other witnesses said Mr. Masu’udi tried to attack Mr. Sneid. The security guards rushed toward Mr. Masu’udi, who said that they grabbed him and struggled to push him away. At that point, witnesses said, the hall was filled with shouting, lawmakers rushed toward the front and the session ended in chaos.
Legislators poured out of the hall and into the cafeteria. There, shouting and accusations continued among the lawmakers, quickly attracting a company of security guards, who surrounded the cafeteria and tried to keep away the journalists and other onlookers who had gathered.
The shouting ended shortly after when many of the legislators involved marched off to their offices. In the aftermath, members of Parliament, many visibly irritated, cast blame: on the Sadrists for causing the commotion, on the dominant Shiite parties for what they see as an attempt to jam the passage through too quickly, and on the Americans and the Iraqi government for what even some supporters of the pact consider an inappropriately secretive negotiating process.
There was uncertainty as to what would happen Thursday, when Parliament tries again for the second reading. Several blocs threatened to boycott Parliament until an investigation took place, while other lawmakers vowed that anyone who tried to disrupt the session would be forcibly removed. There was also uncertainty as to whether the agreement could be voted on before the middle of next week, when many legislators may go on a pilgrimage.
While the confrontation in Parliament was unfolding, demonstrations in favor of the pact were taking place around the country.
But the optimism among Shiite lawmakers earlier in the week had considerably dampened.
In Washington, the Bush administration sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the agreement. They did so behind closed doors, and the administration has not released a copy of the agreement, which has been published in Iraqi newspapers. Officials have repeatedly declined to discuss its terms in detail.
The administration argues that the agreement with Iraq does not require Congressional approval, but prominent lawmakers have raised objections, particularly about the provisions giving the Iraqis legal jurisdiction over crimes by American soldiers in some circumstances and about Iraq’s demands to authorize military operations.
It was not clear that Congress was in a position to force any changes. The Pentagon’s spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said that American commanders were satisfied with the conditions set in the agreement, including deadlines for withdrawal and constraints on operations.
“I’m not going to get into this — the specifics of this — other than to say that how this agreement is implemented will be worked out between our commanders on the ground and the Iraqi leadership,” he said. “And both seem to be very confident that it provides the framework for them to continue to do all that still needs to be done.”
Atheer Kakan and Mohammed Hussein contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Steven Lee Myers from Washington.