November 17, 2008 Iraqi parliament debates security pact Play video

(NECN/ABC) - With a stroke of a pen, no more changes, no more negotiations over a long-term security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. The offer is as good as it is going to get. Now, it is the Iraqi Parliament's turn to weigh in on an up or down vote with the U.N. authorization running out: either U.S. forces stay or go, starting January 1.

Adnan al-Duleimi, Sunni lawmaker:

"We support the idea of the security agreement - says this Sunni political leader - but we have concerns like the release of all Iraqi prisoners being held in U.S. jails."

Even such mild support is welcome for a controversial pact being pushed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite-dominated government. Among other things, the agreement calls for U.S. forces to be out of Iraqi cities by next June and out of Iraq completely by the end of 2011.

U.S. troops would no longer have permission to search Iraqi homes without explicit permission from the government. It bars the U.S. from moving U.S. soldiers or contractors out of Iraq if they are accused of a crime. And, it turns over all airspace and the massive Green Zone in the center of Baghdad to Iraqi control starting on January 1.

Rasheed al-Jumaili, Baghdad resident:

"We don't want an agreement with America, Israel or Iran. Our government should simply build up the Iraqi Army. We don't want this agreement."

Iraqis who follow the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr feel the same. Sadr opposes

the agreement and wants a U.S. withdrawal to begin immediately. But, the agreement got a huge boost this weekend when the revered cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said he would support it if the parliament passed it by a wide margin.

Most Iraqis say they would like the U.S. to leave, but January 1, 2009 is too soon.

The Iraqi Parliament began to read the agreement today. A final vote is expected next Monday. If it fails, the Bush administration may hand an international crisis to the incoming Barack Obama White House.

ABC's Miguel Marquez reports.