More super news from Iraq (not):
Iraq Lawmakers Won't Meet on Constitution By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Parliament announced it had no plans to meet Thursday night and no date for a future session, signaling Iraqi factions were failing to reach agreement on a new constitution before a self-imposed midnight target.
The statement from National Assembly's top spokesman, Bishro Ibrahim, came as negotiators struggled for consensus on a draft by the close of a 72-hour extension granted Monday night by parliament, after Sunni Arabs blocked a vote on a charter accepted by Shiite and Kurdish negotiators.
Earlier Thursday, a radical Shiite cleric called on followers Thursday to end clashes with Shiite rivals, one day after his office in the holy city of Najaf was burned and four of his supporters were killed.
In calling for calm, al-Sadr urged "all believers to spare the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes."
"I will not forget this attack on the office ... but Iraq is passing through a critical and difficult period that requires unity," he told reporters in his home in Najaf.
He demanded that Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the rival Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, condemn "what his followers have done."
"I urge the believers not to attack innocent civilians and not to fall for American plots that aim to divide us," al-Sadr said. "We are passing through a critical period and a political process."
SCIRI has denied any role in the attack on al-Sadr's office. On Thursday it issued a statement calling for an end to the bloodshed, which it also called "a plot that targets our unity."
The crisis began Wednesday when al-Sadr's supporters tried to reopen his office across the street from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Iraq's most sacred Shiite shrine. Rivals tried to stop them, fights erupted and the office was set afire.
Armed attacks against offices of al-Sadr's movement and SCIRI then spread across the Shiite heartland of central and southern Iraq. Twenty-one pro-al-Sadr members of parliament and three top government officials announced they were halting official duties in protest of the Najaf attack.
Legislator Bahaa al-Araji said Thursday the suspension will continue "until the leader's demands are met and until the investigation is over."
Before al-Sadr spoke, the violence continued Thursday.
Al-Sadr supporters in Diwaniyah, 105 miles south of Baghdad, occupied parts of the city, setting up checkpoints and firing on police and rival groups, police Capt. Hussein Hakim said. Some residents fled to nearby villages.
SCIRI members torched a building belonging to al-Sadr's movement in the Baghdad suburb Nahrawan, police said. In retaliation, al-Sadr's followers set fire to an office of SCIRI's Badr Brigade militia in Baghdad's heavily Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
Iraqi leaders seen to be cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition have been frequent targets for attack, and on Thursday, gunmen attacked cars owned by Talabani, killing two of the president's bodyguards and wounding seven, a security official said. The president was not in any of the cars when the attack occurred 55 miles south of Kirkuk.
Also Thursday, the partly clothed bodies of 36 men were discovered southeast of Baghdad on a road leading to Iran, police said. The area has seen killings in the past between Shiites and Sunnis, but it was not clear if the latest deaths were due to sectarian motives.
However, Col. Ali al-Kuraishi said some of the men were wearing baggy trousers worn by Kurds. He said all had been shot in the head and some had their hands bound with metal cuffs.
Elsewhere, clashes broke out in Amarah, where al-Sadr's militiamen attacked the headquarters of the Badr group with mortars. Nine people have been killed and 35 injured since Wednesday night in the clashes, said Mohammed Taha of the local statistics office.
Fighting erupted before dawn in Basra, the country's second-largest city and the major metropolis of the south, but settled down after daybreak, police and residents said.
There also were clashes Wednesday night in Samawah, where Japanese troops are based. Offices of SCIRI were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.
The new violence came as the Defense Department announced it was ordering 1,500 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq to provide security for the October constitutional referendum and December national elections.
Iraqi political figures moved quickly to contain the Shiite crisis, which flared as the country also faced a virulent insurgency led by Sunni Arabs in central, northern and western Iraq.
Talabani, a Kurd, telephoned al-Sadr to appeal for restraint. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite who has cultivated ties to al-Sadr, condemned the Najaf attack and promised that "the government will start an immediate investigation" into the incident.
During his news conference Thursday, al-Sadr criticized the Shiite-led government, in which SCIRI plays a major role.
"What we want is that the voice of people be louder than the voice of the government," he said. "There is elements who fired shots near Imam Ali Shrine, and we know who are stationed near the shrine. Anyone who committed aggression on the al-Sadr office will receive his punishment."
Al-Sadr criticized portions of the draft constitution, saying it was not strong enough against Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Al-Sadr also spoke out against federalism, which is also opposed by the Sunni Arabs.
"We reject federalism and if America has schemes, it should not try to implement those schemes," al-Sadr said.
The 30-ish son of an eminent cleric believed to have been murdered by Saddam's regime, al-Sadr has been among the most outspoken Shiites opposed to the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Beginning in April 2004, he led two Shiite uprisings against U.S.-led forces after the occupation authorities closed his newspaper, arrested key aides and issued a warrant charging him in the assassination of a rival cleric in Najaf.
Hundreds died in the uprisings. Since then, the fiery young cleric has emerged as a major political figure, the warrant against him largely forgotten. |
