Washington Post, Baghdad, November 16, 2008 (excerpts) — Iraq’s prime minister and its most influential Shiite cleric have decided to support a security agreement that would allow U.S. troops to remain in the country until the end of 2011, sharply increasing its chances of passage in the Iraqi parliament, officials said Saturday.

Approval of the so-called status of forces agreement would be a cause for relief among Bush administration officials, who have grown increasingly concerned that U.S. forces would begin the new year with no legal basis to remain in Iraq. A U.N. mandate authorizing their presence is set to expire Dec. 31.

A delegation of Shiite lawmakers and government officials met Saturday with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to review the latest changes to the agreement, and the cleric “gave the Iraqi side the green light to sign it,” according to an official in Sistani’s office who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Sistani’s views carry great weight among members of the Shiite parties that dominate Iraq’s government.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made clear his own support for the agreement and has received assurances from nearly all the parties in the cabinet that they would back it, said an adviser, Sami al-Askari.

A senior U.S. official in Baghdad, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, called Maliki’s decision “an important and positive step.”