THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
More Sunnis Approved for Constitution Panel
The committee will expand to address calls for inclusiveness.
An official says Shiite and Kurd fighters will join the security forces.
By Ashraf Khalil
Times Staff Writer
June 26, 2005
BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers have approved a list of 15 Sunni Muslim Arab
representatives to join the committee charged with writing the country's constitution,
several people involved in the negotiations said Saturday.
Baha Araji, a member of the constitutional committee, confirmed the agreement
on the new Sunni representatives, as did several Sunni politicians who had
been chosen to join. The agreement is expected to be ratified early this
week by the National Assembly.
The deal ends weeks of sectarian wrangling and clears the way for the committee
to begin drafting the constitution with the participation of Iraq's former
ruling minority. Sunni Arabs hold only two of the 55 seats on the committee,
whose numbers will swell to 70.
But the progress toward Sunni inclusion in the government came as comments
from Interior Minister Bayan Jabr drew a harsh response from Sunni Arab
leaders.
Jabr, in an interview with the Al Arabiya news channel, said that Kurdish
and Shiite Muslim militias "are going to join the security forces. This does
not mean that they are going to join the police or the army as one bloc, but
some of their employees can be used as soldiers or officers with their real
ranks."
Jabr specifically named the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of one of the
top Shiite political parties, as well as the Kurdish fighters known as the
peshmerga. He also mentioned firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's
Al Mahdi militia.
His comments weren't particularly controversial — members of the Kurdish
and Shiite militias have been steadily joining the army and police forces.
But the militia question is a sensitive one.
Sunni Arabs, who had dominated the Iraqi government and army since the
1920s, now find themselves outside the new Shiite-Kurdish political order.
They fear being further marginalized by the creation of a largely Kurdish
and Shiite military.
Sunni Arab leaders complained that the move would produce a factionalized
army whose loyalty to Iraq was secondary to diverse political allegiances.
"This is a dangerous decision…. It will be a historical mistake," said
Salih Mutlaq, a spokesman for the National Dialogue Council and a new Sunni
representative on the constitutional committee.
"There will be a sectarian and racist basis for the army…. The army has
to be professional, far away from political parties. These militias are connected
to political parties, and their presence will politicize the army."
In other developments, multiple insurgent attacks left at least 32 Iraqis
dead and the U.S. military announced the death of two more Marines from a
car bomb attack on a convoy in Fallouja on Thursday evening. The two men were
originally listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown" pending identification
of remains.
Saturday's announcement brings the death toll from the attack to four,
including one female Marine. Another Marine and a U.S. sailor remain listed
as whereabouts unknown.
Thirteen Marines were wounded in the attack, including 11 women. Although
female soldiers are forbidden to serve in forward combat positions, the Army
and Marines deploy female troops to handle searches of Iraqi women at checkpoints.
The Marine convoy was returning to base from checkpoint duty when it was attacked.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber drove up to a district
police headquarters early today, bringing down part of the building and killing
at least four officers and a civilian, Reuters news service reported. On Saturday
night, a car bomb exploded near a police convoy in the city, killing four
officers.
In west Baghdad, a pair of mortar shells struck a cafe in the mostly Shiite
neighborhood of Shula. An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said five Iraqi civilians had been killed and six others had
been injured.
In Ramadi, a rebellious Sunni Triangle town near Fallouja, five carloads
of armed men attacked a local police station Saturday morning, killing eight
police officers and wounding seven, local hospital officials said.
Witnesses said about 20 men had battled police officers for an hour, leaving
three squad cars destroyed.
"The weapons that we have are not enough to face such attacks of the armed
groups," said Abbas Mahmoud, a police officer at the station who hadn't
been on duty Saturday.
In Samarra, north of Baghdad, a car detonated in a busy section of the
Old City, killing 10 Iraqis, injuring 17 and destroying five homes. According
to some reports, the attack targeted the home of a prominent Iraqi police
commando.
Times staff writer Raheem Salman and special correspondent
Asmaa Waguih in Baghdad, special correspondent Zaydan Khalaf in Samarra and
special correspondents in Mosul and Fallouja contributed to this report.
