BAGHDAD (AP): A senior Shiite lawmaker said Saturday that parliament should approve a proposed security deal with the United States as long as the government pledges to revoke or change it if its implementation is deemed harmful to the Iraqi people.

The comment by Khalid al-Attiyah, deputy speaker of parliament, came as the government struggled to lay the groundwork for the legislature's passage of the deal, which would allow U.S. forces to stay in Iraq for three more years.

A vote is scheduled for Monday, but presidential spokesman Naseer al-Ani said the vote could be delayed until after the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, which falls in the first week of December. The legislature is due to go into recess later this week because of the feast, and scores of lawmakers were expected to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Iraq's parliament resumed debate Saturday on the pact in a session that was shown live on national television. There were brief, heated exchanges on procedural questions, but the session was orderly. In contrast, chaotic scenes marred debate earlier this week when opposition lawmakers loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr disrupted the proceedings to protest the proposed deal.

Al-Attiyah, an ally of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, drew mild applause when he said the prime minister should overturn or amend the security deal if ``its implementation is found to be harmful to the interests of the Iraqi people.''

If the accord passes the legislature, it will go to President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies for ratification. Each has veto power.

Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi said the deal was necessary because the premature departure of U.S. forces would expose the country to serious security threats.

``The alternative is much worse than the agreement,'' he said, alluding to the renewal of a U.N. mandate under which the U.S. forces are operating in Iraq. That mandate expires Dec. 31.

The agreement provides for a firm timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces _ from the cities by June 30 and the entire country by Jan. 1, 2012 _ and places American forces under strict Iraqi oversight. It gives the Iraqis limited powers to try U.S. soldiers and civilian Pentagon employees in the case of serious crimes committed off-base and off-duty.

It also prohibits U.S. forces from using Iraqi territory to launch attacks against neighboring nations.

The pact has a good chance of winning at least a narrow victory in the fractious legislature. But a slim victory could deepen Iraq's political divisions and deal a serious setback to reconciliation efforts.

The country's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has indicated the agreement would only be acceptable if it passes with a big majority.

Several lawmakers said in parliament on Saturday that it made no sense to approve a deal with a U.S. administration that has less than two months in office and that a better option would be to negotiate with President-elect Barack Obama's administration.

Parliament is being asked to approve or reject the agreement, but lawmakers cannot seek amendments.

With all votes from parliament's main Shiite and Kurdish blocs _ the senior partners in al-Maliki's coalition _ the government can muster just over 140 seats if the agreement is voted on next week.

It is unclear how the government's Sunni Arab partners, the Iraqi Accordance Front, will vote. Its 44 lawmakers could give the government the respectable margin of victory it seeks, but leaders of the bloc are making their approval conditional on a package of reforms to give their community a bigger say in running the country.

Speaking for the Accordance Front, lawmaker Abdul-Kareem al-Samarie criticized the deal as an infringement on the country's sovereignty and questioned the U.S. commitment to defend Iraq in the case of an internal or outside threat.

The Sadrists, who have 30 lawmakers, are leading the camp that opposes the security deal, which includes the Shiite Fadhila party with 15 seats and a small Sunni bloc with 11 seats.

On Saturday, senior lawmaker Bahaa al-Aaraj of al-Sadr's group claimed the government was under U.S. pressure to accept the deal. The cleric's supporters staged a large rally against the agreement in Baghdad on Friday.

It is unclear how the remaining 30 or so lawmakers would vote, but a senior member of a 25-seat secularist bloc led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi criticized the government for not keeping the country's main political groups abreast of the progress of the negotiations.

Adnan Pachachi rejected al-Maliki's assertion that the proposed deal restores the country's full sovereignty, saying the U.N. mandate offered Iraq adequate protection.