"The pledges to withdraw from Iraq given by (officials) from occupation forces countries are only for elections sake ", Ahmed al-Safi, a representative of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said at Friday prayer speech in Karbala.
The cleric noted "the reality of their pledges is that they desire their troops to stay in (Iraq)". He pointed out "it accounted for their desire to draft an agreement to keep the presence of the troops in Iraq". The cleric called on Iraqi negotiator to be patient "in drafting the issues of such decisive agreement".