US accepts some Iraqi demands

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

refid:10310157 ilişkili resim dosyası

“Now it is in their court,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Friday. “They'll move forward; I think their parliament's in session the next two weeks.”

The White House, Defense Department and State Department all emphasized that they now consider the negotiations finished after Iraqi politicians balked at a deal they said gave them too little say over the U.S. role.

 “We believe we have addressed a number of those issues in a way that respects the sovereignty of both countries,” Bloomberg quoted State Department spokesman Robert Wood as saying. President George W. Bush sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with the revised text, Wood told reporters in Washington.
    
Meanwhile, several prominent Shiite preachers in Iraq gave fiery sermons warning against the signing of a new security agreement, which would keep U.S. forces in the country for up to another three years, reported Agence France-Presse on Friday.

"Every Iraqi should read this agreement and decide for himself whether he agrees or disagrees with it," Sheikh Sattar al-Batat, a follower of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said in the crowded slum of Sadr City.