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Show HERALD DAILY Thursday, July 31. 2008 A11 Sliiite cleric offers support to Iraq if it rejects U.S. deal Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed Al Dulaimy MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS BAGHDAD Radical Shi-it- e cleric Muqtada on Wednesday offered full support for Prime Minister Nouri government if it refuses to sign an agreement President Bush has sought to allow semi permanent stationing of U.S. troops in Iraq. Sadr warned at the same time that he would oppose any agreement between Iraq and the United States. Sadr's followers have Also on Wednesday, an early morning raid by U.S. troops monitoring suspected associin Iraq ates of an leader killed a woman and two men near Samarra, a military spokesman said. The head of the local town council said they were a mother and her two grown sons, which the military could not confirm. Another woman, who was in the house but not a target of the raid, was injured. She is not believed to have any conin Iraq, nection with said the spokesman, Navy Lt. Patrick Evans. The statement seemed designed to push Maliki's government into a politically awkward position, Cordesman added Public sentiment is strongly against any status of forces agreement that would permit US. troops to remain on Iraqi soil, but it seems likely the Iraqi military will have to rely on U.S. airpower and military advisers for years to come. And as long as the occupation continues, Sadr implied, he opposes not just a security pact but also the trade and diplomatic ties that would come may be maneuvering against rival Shiite factions and the ruling Dawa Party, said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "The statement isn't inflammatory. If anything, k's carefully calibrated to send a message to his followers, as well as all Iraqis, that politically he's ready for elections if they occur, and that he's reorganizing and strengthening his militia for what could be either a political or less pleasant struggle among the Shia factions." with abandoned active resistance in recent months, as Maliki's government has asserted its authority in military offensives around the country. Sadr's it. me statement, posted Wednesday on his Web site, said that elements of his insurgency had erred in targeting fellow Iraqis and called for a centralized resistance directed only against The spokesman said troops received fire as they approached the house, but were not able to determine where the shots were coming from. They fired into the house after perceiving "hostile intent" from those inside, but later found no weapons. Rules of engagement gov- erning the troops in the raid are classified, Evans said. Sheikh Hatem Nsaief, head of the town council in Al said to his knowledge the family had no connecin Iraq. tion to APfile Muqtada n 3PX : Taking Cate ofGannett U.S. occupiers. Declaring that resistance to an occupier "is a legitimate right by human reason and in Islamic and human law," he called on Shiite clerics to "issue their fatwas against signing ig Savings for any agreement between the government and the occupier, even if it is for friendship or any other purpose." But on the issue of the status of forces agreement, he offered Maliki a deal: "I call upon the Iraqi government again not to sign this agreement and I inform them I am ready to support it popularly and politically if they do not sign it," he said. stateMuch of the ment seemed intended to curb the internecine warfare carried out in his name since 2006, when the bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samar-r- a set off a wave of retaliatory killings between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Before it abated, Shiite death squads were targeting other Shiites, and Sadr scion of a family of clerics who once drew respect from Shia and Sunni alike had lost credibility with all but his most devoted followers. The statement sets careful limits to resistance, condemning any freelance guerrilla action. It also prohibits his followers from targeting civilians Back-to-Scho- ol Thursday, July 31st - Saturday, August 2nd Jib" cities. With provincial elections on the horizon, Sadr who still has parliamentary influence through his Sadrist Party (c j ynPencHsl and government services, and bars any resistance actions in it'' ffff3 j 3Mn ' h 1 (u Wm it lit tf f )W 3- Pi Nonaligned countries back Iran's nuclear program PAPSPZMATg George Jahn THE ASSOCIATED TEHRAN, Iran 4. V PRESS More than backed Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear power on Wednesday, an endorsement sought by Tehran in its standoff with the U.N. Security Council over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. The decision came as supreme Iranian leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei pledged to continue the country's nuclear program. Senior Iranian officials depicted the support from a high-levconference of the Movement as deflating claims by the U.S. and its allies that most of the international community wanted Iran to stop enrichment. The conference's backing, which echoes the group's previous declarations, acts to "remove this notion that the international community opposes the nuclear activities of Iran," said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's top representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the endorsement from the 115 countries present at the Tehran conference sends a "strong positive signal that the only way is negotiation and dialogue" over the nuclear standoff. "Get the message," he said, in blunt comments indirectly aimed at the U.S. and its Western allies, the nations at the forefront of accusations that Tehran wants to build nuclear arms. "Come to the negotiating table." Support was expressed in a declaration in Farsi, three-pag- e translated by The Associated Press. It said the conference "reaffirmed the basic and inalienable right of all states, to develop research, production and use of atomic energy for 100 nonaligned nations Jw Sale Ifff Reg. $3.29 -- Starting at $5.59 161934,629014.709815,614340, 559890,416098,473555 (99! School Essentials: V A - M.99) Choose from Notebooks, Graph paper, Filler Paper, Bookcovers, Scissors & Pencil Pouches on these Binders, Dividers & Sheet , otectorc el : j? j;, Non-align- peaceful purposes." 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