Three more years?

By GottaLaff

Supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans next to a banner picturing Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a revered Shiite religious leader and father of Muqtada al-Sadr as they demonstrate against the proposed security pact between Iraq and the U.S., in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 14, 2008. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday renewed threats to resume attacks on U.S. forces if they don't leave Iraq, deepening the unease over a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would allow American troops to stay for three more years.(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) (Khalid Mohammed - AP)

I posted about the possibility of an agreement earlier. Now we have one:

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft of a security pact that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday.

The aide said the draft could be put to a Cabinet vote in an emergency meeting Sunday or Monday. [...] If adopted by the Cabinet, it would then require parliamentary approval.[...]

The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, al-Maliki's senior coalition partner and the country's largest Shiite party, has said that it would only sign off on the agreement if it does not breach the country's sovereignty and is endorsed by the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Let's see if this big news had any effect whatsoever:

Also Saturday, a suicide car bomber struck a commercial district in the northern city of Tal Afar, killing 10 people and wounding 20, the U.S. military said. Iraqi police and hospital officials said seven people were killed and 32 wounded in the blast, which occurred near a used car lot. The discrepancy couldn't immediately be reconciled. [...]

In Baghdad, a car bomb parked near the National Theater exploded in the mainly Shiite district of Karradah, killing at least five people and wounding 23, including some who were heading to see a play, according to police and hospital officials. [...]

The U.S. military also said an American Marine died from wounds suffered in a roadside bombing west of Baghdad on Friday.

Nope.