Uncle Sam
07-07-2004, 02:15 PM
MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5322157/)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government on Wednesday announced a long-anticipated package of security laws intended to help put down the persistent insurgency wracking the country.
The new law signed by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gives Iraqi officials the right to impose martial law in special circumstances and for limited periods of time in specific places, said Nassir Nassir, an official in Allawi's office. The law has been signed and approved by the government, he said.
"We realize this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees," Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said during a news conference announcing the law Wednesday.
As Allawi took his first decisive move to quell the chaos, a rash of violence broke out throughout the capital.
Masked insurgents and Iraqi forces waged a running gunbattle in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were injured, witnesses said. U.S. soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents, a witness said.
Four mortar rounds shook a neighborhood near the headquarters of Allawi's Iraq National Accord party Wednesday, wounding six people, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks in central Baghdad hit a building belonging to a foundation working to combat chest diseases.
A mortar also hit near a home used by Allawi, the official said on condition of anonymity. Allawi was not present at the home at the time, the official said.
The assault marked the second time Allawi's party, the Iraqi National Accord, was targeted. In the days before U.S. officials handed over power to Allawi's interim government on June 28, insurgents overran the offices of the Iraq National Accord in Baqouba, an insurgent hotspot north of the capital, Baghdad. No one was hurt in that assault.
Iraqi police also defused a car loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives Wednesday morning near the al-Iman mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col. Adnan Hussein.
Later, another explosion rocked the city, shaking the terminal building at Baghdad International Airport. There was no immediate word on whether there was any damage at the airport or any casualties.
Right to impose martial law
The attacks came only hours before Allawi was set to unveil the law formally. The new law gives Iraqi officials the ability to institute martial law for limited periods of time and under special circumstances.
"The borders are still open for infiltrators and, as a result, the security situation is unstable," said Imad Hussein al-Shebeeb, a senior member of the INA. Al-Shebeeb said that Allawi and the other ministers are committed to the security of the country.
In its current form, the new law calls for the revision of emergency measures every 60 days, contingent on the approval of the Cabinet, including the president and the country's two vice presidents, said an official in the Defense Ministry speaking on condition of anonymity.
"There will not be an automatic renewal of the law," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. It will be revised "so that we don't have emergency laws in place for 20 years."
The law is expected to be a package of initiatives to combat the insurgency.
On Saturday, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested that guerrillas who fought the Americans before the sovereignty transfer could be eligible for amnesty because their actions were legitimate acts of resistance.
However, the deputy prime minister for national security, Barham Saleh, said the Cabinet was discussing an amnesty offer and was deliberating how to give "people an opportunity to reintegrate within society" while at the same time "remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces that have come to help us overcome tyranny."
Al-Zarqawi claims attacks on U.S. forces
Meanwhile Wednesday, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for an attack on U.S. forces in western Baghdad earlier this week, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The military wing of al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed 100 of its fighters attacked U.S. forces on Monday in al-Saqlawiya, 43 miles west of the Iraqi capital.
The statement did not specify how many American soldiers were injured or killed.
The U.S. military on Tuesday announced that three Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed while on duty in western Iraq. Two died in action Monday in the Anbar province, while a third died of his wounds later Monday.
Another four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday in the Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations on Tuesday, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
The United States is offering $25 million for information leading to al-Zarqawi's capture. He is believed to be behind a series of coordinated attacks on police and security forces that killed 100 people only days before U.S. forces handed over power to an Iraqi interim government.
His followers have also claimed responsibility for the beheading of American Nicholas Berg and South Korean Kim Sun-il.
An armed vigilante group, calling itself "Salvation Movement," threatened on Tuesday to kill al-Zarqawi for insurgency attacks that have killed Iraqis, making the first internal threat against the Jordanian militant.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government on Wednesday announced a long-anticipated package of security laws intended to help put down the persistent insurgency wracking the country.
The new law signed by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gives Iraqi officials the right to impose martial law in special circumstances and for limited periods of time in specific places, said Nassir Nassir, an official in Allawi's office. The law has been signed and approved by the government, he said.
"We realize this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees," Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said during a news conference announcing the law Wednesday.
As Allawi took his first decisive move to quell the chaos, a rash of violence broke out throughout the capital.
Masked insurgents and Iraqi forces waged a running gunbattle in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were injured, witnesses said. U.S. soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents, a witness said.
Four mortar rounds shook a neighborhood near the headquarters of Allawi's Iraq National Accord party Wednesday, wounding six people, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks in central Baghdad hit a building belonging to a foundation working to combat chest diseases.
A mortar also hit near a home used by Allawi, the official said on condition of anonymity. Allawi was not present at the home at the time, the official said.
The assault marked the second time Allawi's party, the Iraqi National Accord, was targeted. In the days before U.S. officials handed over power to Allawi's interim government on June 28, insurgents overran the offices of the Iraq National Accord in Baqouba, an insurgent hotspot north of the capital, Baghdad. No one was hurt in that assault.
Iraqi police also defused a car loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives Wednesday morning near the al-Iman mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col. Adnan Hussein.
Later, another explosion rocked the city, shaking the terminal building at Baghdad International Airport. There was no immediate word on whether there was any damage at the airport or any casualties.
Right to impose martial law
The attacks came only hours before Allawi was set to unveil the law formally. The new law gives Iraqi officials the ability to institute martial law for limited periods of time and under special circumstances.
"The borders are still open for infiltrators and, as a result, the security situation is unstable," said Imad Hussein al-Shebeeb, a senior member of the INA. Al-Shebeeb said that Allawi and the other ministers are committed to the security of the country.
In its current form, the new law calls for the revision of emergency measures every 60 days, contingent on the approval of the Cabinet, including the president and the country's two vice presidents, said an official in the Defense Ministry speaking on condition of anonymity.
"There will not be an automatic renewal of the law," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. It will be revised "so that we don't have emergency laws in place for 20 years."
The law is expected to be a package of initiatives to combat the insurgency.
On Saturday, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested that guerrillas who fought the Americans before the sovereignty transfer could be eligible for amnesty because their actions were legitimate acts of resistance.
However, the deputy prime minister for national security, Barham Saleh, said the Cabinet was discussing an amnesty offer and was deliberating how to give "people an opportunity to reintegrate within society" while at the same time "remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces that have come to help us overcome tyranny."
Al-Zarqawi claims attacks on U.S. forces
Meanwhile Wednesday, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for an attack on U.S. forces in western Baghdad earlier this week, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The military wing of al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed 100 of its fighters attacked U.S. forces on Monday in al-Saqlawiya, 43 miles west of the Iraqi capital.
The statement did not specify how many American soldiers were injured or killed.
The U.S. military on Tuesday announced that three Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed while on duty in western Iraq. Two died in action Monday in the Anbar province, while a third died of his wounds later Monday.
Another four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday in the Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations on Tuesday, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
The United States is offering $25 million for information leading to al-Zarqawi's capture. He is believed to be behind a series of coordinated attacks on police and security forces that killed 100 people only days before U.S. forces handed over power to an Iraqi interim government.
His followers have also claimed responsibility for the beheading of American Nicholas Berg and South Korean Kim Sun-il.
An armed vigilante group, calling itself "Salvation Movement," threatened on Tuesday to kill al-Zarqawi for insurgency attacks that have killed Iraqis, making the first internal threat against the Jordanian militant.