New York Times covers Alawi. Still not one damn word about Iran, not even to cover the kidnapping of the Iranian consul. Even the WaPo covers that
Iraq's Premier Takes Hard Line Against Rebels
By JOHN F. BURNS and ALEX BERENSON
Published: August 9, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 8 - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, reinforcing his reputation as a man ready to deal harshly with his adversaries, flew into the embattled city of Najaf on Sunday and said that there would be "no negotiations or truce" that would spare rebel fighters from American and Iraqi forces who have been waging a violent contest for control of the city's heart.
In Baghdad, Dr. Allawi's aides later announced that the government had approved a decree restoring the death penalty for a range of crimes, including some so broadly phrased that they appeared to cover virtually every kind of insurgent attack. A suspension of the death penalty was one of the earliest moves taken by the American occupation authority last year.
The two actions on Sunday, coming amid some of the fiercest fighting of the 15-month insurgency, seemed to set a new benchmark for Dr. Allawi, whose political trademark since his youth in Saddam Hussein's Baath Party has been one of relentless toughness. The restoration of capital punishment had been expected since he took office in June, with a twin-edged vow to curb the insurgency by reaching out to disaffected groups that have joined or condoned it, and to prosecute the war fiercely against those who fought on.
After he returned to Baghdad Sunday night, Dr. Allawi presided over yet another move, perhaps his boldest yet, to curb challenges to his power. The country's top investigative judge confirmed that he had issued warrants for the arrest of one of Mr. Allawi's fiercest political rivals, Ahmad Chalabi, once the Pentagon's favorite to become Iraq's new leader after Saddam Hussein, and of Mr. Chalabi's nephew, Salem Chalabi, who is chief administrator of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that was set up by the Americans to try Mr. Hussein and top associates in the ousted government.
In Najaf, the scene of intense fighting in recent days, Dr. Allawi laid down a hard line against the militiamen of the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
"All the Mahdi Army fighters should abandon their weapons and leave the city," he said, referring to Mr. Sadr's militiamen, after meeting with Marine commanders at an American base on the outskirts of the city. He promised that an end to the fighters' occupation of Najaf's old city and its golden mosque, one of Shiite Islam's most sacred shrines, would be followed by generous government financing for the city's reconstruction, but said that there would be no negotiating with the militiamen.
"This is the core of the matter, and we will not waver," he said. "There will be absolutely no negotiations and no truce."
On Saturday, his government had declared a 30-day amnesty for a range of relatively minor crimes involving support for the insurgency, but not for killing. That was followed, on Sunday, by the death penalty decree, which was wider in its scope than some Iraqis had expected when Dr. Allawi let it be known that he favored the move.
The move seemed certain to have a deep resonance for a people traumatized by the grim carousel of executions under Mr. Hussein, yet struggling now to cope with bombings, assassinations and other violence that have bludgeoned the country since Mr. Hussein's fall. At a news conference announcing the decree, Dr. Allawi's aides said the government was responding to Iraqis' demands for a "secure life," freed from the terrorist attacks that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians since the American-led invasion last year.
Officials at the news conference said the crimes eligible for execution would be a fraction of those that drew the gallows or firing squad under Mr. Hussein, involving more than 120 provisions in Iraq's criminal code, many of them essentially political crimes. The officials said that the reduced list of capital crimes had been scoured to eliminate any possibility of execution once again becoming a political tool, and said that they intended to make the restoration of capital punishment temporary, to be rescinded again when the insurgency has ended.
nytimes.com
debka headlines on the same subject:
Rebel Shiite cleric Sadr vows to fight to last drop of blood in first public appearance - as artillery and tank fire rocked Najaf on day 5 of fighting. Sunday PM Allawi visited city and called on Sadr followers to leave.
Iraqi defense minister Shaalan accused Tehran of funneling arms to Sadr’s militia, calling Iran his country’s “first enemy." Iranian consul in Karbala kidnapped Sunday. Second flashpoint, Baghdad’s Sadr City, placed under night curfew. In running street battles in Basra 3 Shiite rebels killed, 5 British troops injured.
debka.com |
