By Wisam Mohammed BAGHDAD, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Iraq's leaders met with recalcitrant politicians on Sunday to try to persuade them to accept a pact allowing U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for three years ahead of a parliamentary vote this week. Leaders of every major political bloc apart from followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr attended late evening talks behind closed doors, as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki struggled to win broad acceptance of the pact. Parliament has been debating the proposed pact, which requires U.S. troops to be confined to their bases by the middle of next year and to quit Iraq completely by the end of 2011, after cabinet approved it last Sunday. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on it on Wednesday, before setting off for a holiday recess later in the week. Large Shi'ite and Kurdish parties that support Maliki may have enough votes to pass the pact, but to win a broad consensus they need to win over Sunni Arabs and smaller parties. The Sadrists oppose any extension of the U.S. military presence, and held a mass demonstration against the pact on Friday that drew thousands of supporters. All other groups say they back a pact in principle. But some, including the main Sunni Arab group, the Accordance Front, have reservations about the text thrashed out over nearly a year of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington. Several blocs have indicated they may not approve it, or may not turn up to vote, prompting dire warnings from the government that a failure to back it could again unleash the violence that threatened to tear Iraq apart after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. "(President Jalal) Talabani is currently receiving heads of the main parties and blocs in parliament who object to this pact to discuss their views on it in order to reach agreement," a spokesman for the Accordance Front, Saleem al-Jubouri, said. Maliki also attended meetings with political leaders. He has launched a spirited defence of the pact in the past week and accused those opposing it of recklessness. The Sadrists, who have been increasingly isolated from the political mainstream since a government crackdown against their Mehdi Army militia this year, said they weren't invited to the talks. They have 30 seats in the 275 seat legislature. "Our stance is the same: We object to this agreement. We will not change our stance for nationalist and religious reasons," said a spokesman for Sadr's bloc, Aqeel Abdul Hussein. Influential Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who could sink the pact if he disapproved of it, has said it is up to parliament to decide. But he says the pact should have the support of all of Iraq's communities. (Reporting by Wisam Mohammed; writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Michael Christie and Sami Aboudi)
A demonstrator slaps an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush with a sandal during a rally at Firdos square in Baghdad November 21, 2008. Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ...
