Bekijk Volledige Versie : Iraqi Shias demand elections
Iraqi Shias demand elections
Friday 03 October 2003, 16:04 Makka Time, 13:04 GMT
The leader of Iraq's biggest Shia political party has demanded that writers of the country's new constitution must be elected.
Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the chief of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said on Friday that the new constitution also must be ratified through a nationwide referendum.
"The drafting of a permanent constitution for the country must be done by a panel elected by the Iraqi people," al Hakim said at a mourning ceremony for his brother, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, killed last month.
"It must be ratified through a nationwide referendum," Hakim told a crowd of 10,000 people who had gathered to mourn the slain cleric.
Draft Opposed
SCIRI has meanwhile criticized the new US draft resolution on Iraq since it gave no deadline for a withdrawal of coalition forces from the country.
Reda ***** Taqi, a SCIRI representative said the draft was "weak" because it does not include a deadline and a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition forces.
One of Iraq's key Shia political parties, SCIRI also demanded a "timetable for the transfer of power from the US forces and the occupation administration led by Paul Bremer to the Iraqi people."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C05E07FC-9EC6-4F8F-BF0F-1064128004C4.htm
Oh dit heb ik even gemist in het Nederlandse nieuws. Dat is altijd het probleem van de VN, naar de "inboorlingen" luisteren ze niet.
Attack targets Iraqi Shia party
An employee of Iraq's main Shia political group has died after an explosion at the party's offices in the northern city of Kirkuk as resistance attacks continue unabated.
The worker was killed in the suspected resistance attack targetting the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI).
Mortar shells slammed into the party’s office, killing Khalil Karam Hasnawi, 29, and wounded a second person, said SAIRI’s chief Izz al-Din Musa in Kirkuk.
“The goal of these attacks is to wreck the future of Iraqis and disturb security,” he said in the oil-rich town, 255km north of Baghdad.
Musa claimed the attacks were carried out by al-Qaida. US occupying forces and Shia groups in Iraq regularly blame incidents on al-Qaida and Baathist elements.
SAIRI’s leader Ayat Allah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim was killed in August along with about 83 civilians in a car bombing in Najaf.
SAIRI is represented on the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, a move which has angered both Sunnis and Shias in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
Meanwhile, US military occupation officials said a soldier was killed and a second wounded late on Monday near the flashpoint town of Ramadi, 110km west of the capital.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E863D707-E5F3-4D67-9DE2-621D7DA2A4E6.htm
Me dunkt dat de Amerikanen of het INC van Chalabi erachter zitten wegens de opruiende woorden van de SCIRI.
Nog een voorbeeld van het niet luisteren naar de "inboorlingen" ditmaal door de Amerikanen:
Kurds reject Turkish troops in Iraq
Kurds oppose any form of Turkish military deployment in Iraq, according to an official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Barham Salih made clear that foreign military forces in occupied Iraq could not guarantee security for the population and that a Turkish presence would only deteriorate an already bad situation.
His comments were published on Tuesday in Iraq’s al-Sabah newspaper.
"Turkish troops will face difficulties if they enter Iraq, because the majority of Iraqi groups do not want any military participation from any neighbouring country," he said.
No military assistance
Ruling out military assistance, Salih said Turkey would have a role to play in rebuilding a free and unoccupied Iraq.
"The Iraqi people seek political and economic help from Turkey, but not military," said Salih, who is in Ankara.
The official said his comments were representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and its leader, Jalal Talibani.
Parliament vote
The Turkish parliament is expected to vote on Tuesday on a troop deployment to Iraq.
The operation could start as early as next month and last for up to a year, according to Turkish press reports.
The government motion, which has sparked sharp public opposition, does not specify how many soldiers would be sent and to which part of Iraq.
But the popular Vatan daily said 6000 soldiers - from units in Ankara and from the neighbouring province of Cankiri - would initially be deployed, starting in November.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/6E20858D-2D68-4AB6-B01E-86E9F2E1E3AC/12921/CB33E54D821B4CD5A4D2E66AB5D6DE36.jpg
Anti-US and Israeli sentiment is running high in Turkey
If Parliament does agree, Turkey will become the first predominantly Muslim nation to contribute troops to the US-led occupation.
Hostile opposition
But many lawmakers reject the idea of sending troops, having opposed the war that ousted former president Saddam Hussein from the beginning.
Many parliamentarians doubt whether their soldiers - consisting mainly of conscripts - should risk dying for a mission they do not support. A recent opinion poll indicated that 64.4% of Turks oppose sending troops.
However, Ankara seems determined to help out the US-led occupation.
Government spokesman Cemil Cicek would not disclose how many soldiers might be sent, but officials have said the United States has requested about 10,000.
The number "will be assessed according to needs," Cicek said.
US security assurance
The Turkish government has received assurances from the US State Department's “counterterrorism” chief, Cofer Black, that the United States will remove the threat posed by Kurdish rebels of the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, based in northern Iraq.
But Barham Salih says no one is in a position to guarantee anybody’s security in Iraq.
Most of northern Iraq is in the hands of two mainstream Kurdish parties - the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6E20858D-2D68-4AB6-B01E-86E9F2E1E3AC.htm
Gelukkig dat Turkije nog een parlement heeft die dit waarschijnlijk gaat tegenhouden. Maja dan krijgen we Wolfowitz weer op televisie die beweert dat het leger de democratische rechtsgang dan maar moet verstoren.
Turkish MPs to vote on Iraq force
The Turkish parliament is poised to vote on sending troops to assist the US-led coalition in Iraq - but the Iraq Governing Council has already rejected Ankara's plan.
A Kurdish member of the US-appointed council, Mahmoud Othman, said the council "is unanimous in issuing a communique against the sending of Turkish forces to Iraq".
"It is the wrong thing to do. It does not add to security. It is not useful," he told the AFP news agency.
The Turkish Government decided on Monday to send up to 10,000 troops, following a request from Washington.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3170318.stm
Ook de door Amerika aangestelde Iraakse council is tegen de inzet van Turkse groepen. Wat luisteren ze toch goed zeg. Dit is waarlijk de democratie die de VS heeft beloofd :duim:
Turkish MPs back Iraq force
The Turkish parliament has voted to send troops to help US-led forces in Iraq - but the US-appointed Governing Council in Baghdad has said it does not want them.
Turkish MPs backed the deployment by 358 votes, with 183 votes against, a day after the government decided to send up to 10,000 troops to help stabilise Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3172228.stm
Het aanbod om de PKK uit te roeien en 9 miljard dollar aan leningen was dus genoeg om ze om te kopen :jammer: