al-Hakim: US Troops a Humiliation: Only a UN Resolution Can Authorize Them

AFP reports that the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and member of the Interim Governing Council, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, has insisted that the presence of US troops in Iraq must be authorized by a United Nations resolution and by a referendum of the Iraqi people.

He said on Monday, "The presence of any foreign force in Iraq is an exceptional state of affairs, there is a diminution of the sovereignty and dignity of the people of Iraq . . . The presence of these forces should be under UN resolution and with the agreement of the Iraqi side and they should take into account the opinions of the Iraqi people about the presence of these forces and the duration of their deployment."

Al-Hakim himself probably does not have the standing to turn these suggestions into a demand that the US would find hard to sidestep. But if fatwas to this effect were issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the US might well be forced to seek a UN resolution and a popular referendum in Iraq to justify continued American military presence.

And this is what the allies of the US in Iraq are saying!