26/11/08
Iraq’s parliament has agreed to put a controversial deal allowing US troops to stay in the country for another three years to a public vote. MPs on Wednesday decided to make the pact dependent on a national referendum - to be held in 2009 - after delaying by 24 hours their vote on the deal. MPs will now vote on the wide-ranging accord on Thursday after reservations by Sunnis and opposition by Shias threatened to derail the agreement. The accord has been subject to numerous revisions in an attempt to keep various political factions on board and push it through parliament with a respectable majority.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/ 20081126144448668869.html
