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Ramadan bomber kills 26 at Shi'ite mosque in Iraq
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-06 09:00
U.S. APPROVAL
The United Nations, which made a veiled threat to withhold its approval of
the vote, and the White House, which said U.S. officials had hoped to change
minds in Baghdad, welcomed the U- turn. Sunni politicians said it was positive,
but quickly found other grounds for renewing their threat of a boycott.
The Shi'ite majority in the National Assembly insisted it acted by itself and
not under pressure from the U.N.'s veiled warnings. It also said it might
challenge results if voters appeared to be scared off by insurgents opposed to
the process.
"They have reversed their decision as we had hoped they would," said U.N.
spokesman Said Arikat in Baghdad.
Iraqi policemen secure the site where a car
bomb exploded in central Baghdad. [AFP] | "They should encourage broader political participation, and the vote today
does that and we think that's positive," said Scott McClellan, spokesman for
U.S. President George W. Bush.
Targets for approval or rejection of the constitution now both refer to votes
cast. Sunday's ruling cited the proportion of registered voters in the case of
rejection. The constitution will now take effect if half the votes cast are in
favor but fail if two thirds in three of 18 regions are cast against it.
Washington, anxious to defuse revolt among Sunni Arabs and bring the once
dominant minority into the political system set up after the U.S. invasion, was
also dismayed when parliament, in the words of one U.N. official, had "moved the
goalposts."
BOYCOTT THREAT
However, after parliament's reversal, Sunni politicians Saleh al-Mutlak and
Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters their colleagues would meet soon and might call
for another voting boycott if U.S. forces did not halt major operations in
western Iraq.
"If U.S. forces keep attacking Sunni cities, then in three or four days' time
we will announce a boycott of the referendum," said Mutlak, of the National
Dialogue Council.
The Americans are targeting al Qaeda guerrillas in Qaim, Haditha and other
Sunni towns. Some local people complain that civilians are also suffering in
U.S. bombing.
The U.S. military said six al Qaeda fighters had been killed around Haditha
since Operation River Gate began on Tuesday. The offensive appeared to have been
considerably scaled back. Of 2,500 troops involved at first, 350 were in action
on Wednesday.
U.S. and Iraqi government officials have complained that Sunni politicians
are irresponsible in exploiting the threat of boycotts, and the loss of
legitimacy for elections they entail.
Hussain al-Shahristani, the Shi'ite deputy speaker, insisted that parliament
had acted on its own initiative.
"We asked the U.N. to inform us of what are international standards,"
Shahristani told reporters, adding that Wednesday's resolution also contained
three further conditions.
The government, he said, agreed to increase security at polling stations in
violent areas and keep them there after the referendum to prevent reprisals
against voters; to weed out election officials who might pass information on
voters to the insurgents; and to note parliament's right to challenge in the
courts regional ballots where voters seemed to be intimidated.
Shahristani said he was less concerned about the three Sunni provinces where
a two-thirds "No" vote is seen as possible despite widespread violence than
about mixed provinces such as Diyala, northeast of Baghdad. Al Qaeda militants
there have threatened to kill anyone turning out to vote in the
referendum.
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