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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi constitution almost ready, Turkey preparing to stomp PKK |
| 2005-07-20 |
| Iraq announced its post-Saddam Hussein constitution would be ready within two weeks despite sustained rebel attacks that saw the killing of two Sunni members of the charter's drafting committee and the subsequent resignation of another four. As rebels pursued their attacks on the ground, another 15 people lost their lives, including eight killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gates of an army recruiting center in Baghdad. The news came as Egyptian telecom magnate Nagib Sawiris said Cairo's envoy to Baghdad, whose murder by insurgents was announced earlier this month, could be alive, according to Egyptian news reports. "We have some information that the Egyptian ambassador is probably alive and that he was not killed," the Orascom chairman told state-owned newspaper Al-Gumhuriya. Ihab al-Sharif, 51, was kidnapped on July 2 in Baghdad and the group of Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed his murder five days later. Sharif's body has yet to be recovered by the Egyptian authorities. However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit was quoted by the independent Al-Masri al-Youm as saying that "there is a slim chance that we may find Ihab al-Sharif alive." "However the information we all have is that he was most probably martyred." In Iraq, meanwhile, constitution committee chairman Hamoun Hammadi said the document would be ready to go to Parliament by August 1, ahead of the August 15 deadline, before going to a referendum on October 15. "There has been an agreement about all the basic issues, including the basic principles, rights, duties and freedoms," he told reporters. "The only point left is that of federalism which aroused some concerns and fears." The national assembly will then debate the draft and submit amendments in time for a final vote on August 15, marking a milestone in Iraq's political transition following the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the toppling of Saddam. Hammadi's announcement came despite the killing of two Sunni Arabs involved in the drafting which led to resignation of four other Sunni members of the commission and raised doubt about its ability to prepare the charter on time. Dhamin Hussein and Aziz Ibrahim, among 15 prominent Sunni Arabs from outside Parliament invited to work on the panel drafting the document, were gunned down in Baghdad. "The time is not right for writing the constitution and we think it is not possible for us to continue working in such an atmosphere," said Salah al-Mutlaq, a spokesman for the Sunni-based National Dialogue Council, which groups a number of small Sunni parties. The minority Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam, are under-represented in Parliament because they largely boycotted elections in January and are considered the backbone of the insurgency. As Iraq remembered the dead from some of the worst bombings of a recent frenzy, rebels continued their attacks, with eight killed in the army recruiting center bombing and another seven in attacks elsewhere. "I was standing opposite the entrance to the base, near the park, where those wanting to join up are expected to wait as a safety measure, when a fat young man wearing a grey T-shirt called out for everyone to come forward to answer questions on how the center worked," said Rahim Ashuan, one of the would-be recruits. "Just then I got scared and moved away with some of my friends. A few seconds later there was an enormous explosion and I was sent flying. I passed out and woke up here," he said. A three-minute silence was observed to commemorate the deaths of 32 children in Baghdad last week when a suicide bomber blew himself up as U.S. soldiers handed out chocolates and for the 83 dead when another bomber blew up a propane gas tanker in Al-Musayyib, south of the capital. The terrorists "feel that by killing our children we will bow down," Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told Parliament in a televised broadcast, flanked by his cabinet ministers. "But the people of Iraq have faced a dictatorial regime for three decades and they will not bow down." Turkey warned it was losing patience over the safe haven that armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels enjoyed in northern Iraq, saying it may carry out a military incursion. The PKK responded with a threat to turn northern Iraq into a "quagmire" for the Turkish army if it launches cross-border operations to clean up on guerrilla camps. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit was quoted by the independent Al-Masri al-Youm as saying that "there is a slim chance that we may find Ihab al-Sharif alive." "However the information we all have is that he was most probably martyred." So you work for the Eqyptian Govt, skip your kids birthdays, work weekends, get promoted to a post that you know will put you in the headlines (i.e. Ambassador to Iraq). You're kidnapped, no one really knows if you're dead or not, but your employer decides that if you were murdered, you were "martyred"....Hopefully you've added your wife to your 401k... |
| Posted by: Death B4 Dhimmi 2005-07-20 23:34 |
| #4 That second front option is over and done. This Turkey's gone from too |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-07-20 20:12 |
| #3 I presume you are refering to Turkey. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-20 19:26 |
| #2 No, but I would. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-07-20 17:37 |
| #1 I doubt they'd like the results of an "incursion"... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-07-20 17:20 |