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Iraq announces emergency powers law
The Iraqi government announced a long-anticipated package of security laws Wednesday to help crush insurgents, including a provision allowing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to impose martial law.
"The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they are in danger from evil forces, from gangs of terrorists," said Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin, who compared the new law to the U.S. Patriot Act.
As the plan was announced, masked gunmen battled Iraqi forces in central Baghdad, and at least four people were killed. Mortars landed near a residence used by Allawi, and Iraqi police also defused a massive car bomb elsewhere in the capital.
The laws give Allawi the right to impose curfews, to conduct search operations and detain individuals with weapons, once he receives unanimous approval from the Cabinet. It also gives him the right to assign governors, including military leaders, to be in charge of specific areas.
Allawi signed the law earlier in the day, officials said.
Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said the premier would need to get warrants from an Iraqi court for each step and said martial law could only be declared for 60 days or for the duration of the specific violence, whichever was shorter.
"We realize this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees," al-Hassan said. "We have tried to guarantee justice and also to guarantee human rights."
The law was needed to combat the insurgents who are "preventing government employees from attending their jobs, preventing foreign workers from entering the country to help rebuild Iraq and in general trying to derail general elections," he said.
That danger was underscored by the violence Wednesday. Insurgents waged a running gunbattle with Iraqi forces in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were hurt, witnesses said. U.S. soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents, a witness said.
Health Ministry official Saad al-Amili said four people were killed and 20 injured in the battle.
In another Baghdad neighborhood, four mortar rounds shook a neighborhood near the headquarters of Allawi's political party, wounding six people, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks on a stretch of Zeitoun Street in central Baghdad also hit near a home used by Allawi, who was not there, 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 that was parked near the al-Iman mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col. Adnan Hussein.
Later, another explosion shook the terminal at Baghdad International Airport. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.
Amin said the new security law was needed to combat insurgents who are "preventing government employees from reporting for work, preventing foreign workers from entering the country to help rebuild Iraq and in general trying to derail general elections."
But officials also emphasized the checks built into the new laws to allay fears that they could give Allawi dictatorial powers reminiscent of the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein.
Amin said the human rights and justice ministries would form a joint body to monitor all areas of the country where the emergency laws were declared and would investigate any allegations of human rights violations. A senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the law will not detract from the efforts of coalition forces. "We'll still be able to go out and do our mission," the official said. "There may be a requirement or need for increase of coordination with specific rules and specific measures that are going to be put in place by the Iraqi government." The U.S. military has been handing over security responsibilities to Iraqi police and national guard forces, which are largely ill-equipped and ill-trained to handle such duties alone. Allawi and his government had delayed the announcement of the law on several occasions, suggesting some disagreement within the Cabinet over its provisions. On Saturday, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested 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." Amin also read out a list of foreign Arab fighters arrested in the country for taking part in the insurgency. They came from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, Palestinian territories, Morocco, Turkey, and Iran. He said one detainee, a Moroccan he identified as George Bin Baqi, was arrested at the Jordanian-Iraqi border with the son of Saddam's half brother, Mohammed Barazan al-Tikriti. He gave no other details. Also 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 say how many American soldiers were 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 Anbar province, while a third died of his wounds later Monday. Another four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday in the province during security and stability operations, the U.S. military said. 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 last month. 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 Tuesday to kill al-Zarqawi for insurgency attacks that have killed Iraqis, the first internal threat against the Jordanian militant. |
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