Iraq parliament votes non-binding ban on U.S. forces near Shiite shrine

One of thousands of demonstrators which gathered yesterday to protest a U.S. raid which killed 8.

BAGHDAD — In a symbolic move, the Iraqi parliament Monday called for banning U.S. and other foreign troops from getting within half a mile from one of the Shiite Muslims holiest shrines in Iraq a day after American forces carried a raid nearby, a member of parliament said Monday.

The protest vote led by radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc came a day after a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad’s northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah, which includes the shrine that contains the tombs of two Shiite saints.

The U.S. military said the joint operation was aimed at capturing “high-value individuals” believed to be meeting in the area, but the troops came under small-arms fire after setting up a cordon, and people burned tires in the streets.

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