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No Welcome Mat Here

As the US tries to stitch up some sort of security pact with Iraq, the "locals" don't seem so keen for Uncle Sam to stay in their war-ravaged country.

Maintaining a presence in Iraq is vital for the US if it wants to protect, as best it can , some sort of security for an ongoing supply of oil. A complete withdrawal doesn't seem on the cards. Why else would the US have built the biggest embassy it ever has [see here] if it didn't want a permanent presence in Iraq?

McClatchy reports in "Sadr followers protest Iraqi-U.S. pact in huge rally":

"Tens of thousands of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr packed a central Baghdad square Friday, where they protested a U.S.-Iraq security agreement and likened Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to fallen dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sheik Abdul Hadi al Mohammadawi read a nationalistic speech on behalf of Sadr urging a rejection of any pacts with the U.S., charging that approving one would infringe on Iraqi sovereignty.

The crowd chanted back, "Leave, leave, occupier."

The rally took place in Firdous Square, the site of an iconic image of the Iraq war's early days. It's the spot where U.S. Marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 when they took control of Baghdad.

Sadr's supporters on Friday hung an effigy of President George W. Bush from the statue's pedestal during the protest. A crowd gathered around the effigy after Mohammadawi's speech, hurling garbage at it and then pulling it down and burning it.

Otherwise, the rally was peaceful, guarded by the Iraqi military and Sadrists. Prayers encouraging unity among Iraqis followed the speeches."

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