Iraqi rebels in western city turn against Qaeda
BAGHDAD, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Iraqi nationalist rebels in the Sunni Arab city of Ramadi have turned against their former al Qaeda allies after a bomb attack this month killed 80 people.
Residents said on Monday at least three prominent figures on both sides were killed in tit-for-tat assassinations after local insurgent groups formed an alliance against al Qaeda, blaming it for massacring police recruits in Ramadi on Jan. 5.
In Baghdad, bomb blasts killed five Iraqi policemen and a U.S. soldier despite a security clampdown on the capital to thwart attacks by Sunni Arab rebels angry over election results. The attacks took place the day before the trial of Saddam Hussein was due to resume.
The Ramadi bloodshed, which one resident described as "all-out war", has taken place as political parties prepare for talks on forming a coalition government the United States hopes will undermine support for a Sunni Arab insurgency.
Since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government in 2003, disparate Iraqi groups have made common cause with foreign Islamists like al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, seeking to force out U.S. troops and bring down the U.S.-backed government of Shi'ites and Kurds.
But there are signs that their goals may be diverging, with some nationalists seeing political negotiation in Baghdad as a way of attaining some of their goals.
Despite increased security throughout Baghdad, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint into the Green Zone government compound, close to the Iranian embassy, killing two policemen and a television sports journalist.
A burnt-out police vehicle stood still smouldering in the street and the twisted, blackened wreckage of the bomber's car. A foot lay among the blast debris scattered in the street.
Bombs killed two more policemen and a U.S. soldier in four other attacks in the capital. Several mortar bombs fell short of the Green Zone into a park that also houses Baghdad zoo and an amusement park. Police said no one was injured.
SECURITY CLAMPDOWN
Iraq's Interior Ministry said a security clampdown in the capital was still in force, amid fears of a spike in insurgent violence as political parties gear up for negotiations on a coalition government of national unity.
The results, announced on Friday, gave the ruling alliance of Shi'ite Islamic parties 128 seats in the 275-seat parliament and 55 seats to two Sunni blocs. The Kurdish Alliance won 53.
The United States, anxious for a stable consensus, wants the Kurds and majority Shi'ites to form a government that includes Sunnis, hoping that their involvement in the political process will weaken support for the insurgency.
Iraq's parliament will ignore a constitutional provision setting a firm deadline for its first meeting after the election but could meet to choose a president and prime minister from mid-February, officials said on Monday.
"I don't think we're going to meet before mid-February. We have to reach an overall deal first in which we name the president, prime minister and the speaker," Abbas al-Bayati, an official in the dominant Shi'ite Alliance bloc.
He said there was already consensus on Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani staying on as president and on the Alliance, with a near-majority, having the right to name the prime minister. It hoped to decide by the end of the week between the incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Adel Abdul Mahdi.
As the candidates jockey for position, Saddam is due to return to court on Tuesday, although his defence team have said they will seek a halt to proceedings.
The court named a new chief judge on Monday after the original presiding judge resigned and his replacement was accused of being a supporter of the former Iraqi president.
The Iraqi High Tribunal has been in turmoil since Kurdish chief judge Rizgar Amin resigned two weeks ago, complaining about government pressure to speed up the trial and clamp down on tirades by Saddam and some of his seven co-accused.
His resignation rocked a court whose ability to mount a fair trial amid sectarian and ethnic strife had already been thrown into doubt by the killing of two defence lawyers and mutual accusations of intimidation.
Amin's deputy on the five-judge panel, Shi'ite Arab Sayeed al-Hamashi, was chosen by fellow judges last week to preside over Tuesday's session but was swiftly accused of belonging to Saddam's Baath Party, a charge he has denied.
The court said on Monday that Raouf Abdel Rahman, 64, a Kurd like Amin, would preside on Tuesday.
Rahman's home town is Halabja, where Saddam's security forces are accused of killing 5,000 people in one day in 1988 in a poison gas attack. The massacre is one of the atrocities for which Saddam could ultimately be tried.
Saddam is now on trial for crimes against humanity for having 148 men from the Shi'ite town of Dujail killed after an assassination bid there in 1982.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny)
Residents said on Monday at least three prominent figures on both sides were killed in tit-for-tat assassinations after local insurgent groups formed an alliance against al Qaeda, blaming it for massacring police recruits in Ramadi on Jan. 5.
In Baghdad, bomb blasts killed five Iraqi policemen and a U.S. soldier despite a security clampdown on the capital to thwart attacks by Sunni Arab rebels angry over election results. The attacks took place the day before the trial of Saddam Hussein was due to resume.
The Ramadi bloodshed, which one resident described as "all-out war", has taken place as political parties prepare for talks on forming a coalition government the United States hopes will undermine support for a Sunni Arab insurgency.
Since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government in 2003, disparate Iraqi groups have made common cause with foreign Islamists like al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, seeking to force out U.S. troops and bring down the U.S.-backed government of Shi'ites and Kurds.
But there are signs that their goals may be diverging, with some nationalists seeing political negotiation in Baghdad as a way of attaining some of their goals.
Despite increased security throughout Baghdad, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint into the Green Zone government compound, close to the Iranian embassy, killing two policemen and a television sports journalist.
A burnt-out police vehicle stood still smouldering in the street and the twisted, blackened wreckage of the bomber's car. A foot lay among the blast debris scattered in the street.
Bombs killed two more policemen and a U.S. soldier in four other attacks in the capital. Several mortar bombs fell short of the Green Zone into a park that also houses Baghdad zoo and an amusement park. Police said no one was injured.
SECURITY CLAMPDOWN
Iraq's Interior Ministry said a security clampdown in the capital was still in force, amid fears of a spike in insurgent violence as political parties gear up for negotiations on a coalition government of national unity.
The results, announced on Friday, gave the ruling alliance of Shi'ite Islamic parties 128 seats in the 275-seat parliament and 55 seats to two Sunni blocs. The Kurdish Alliance won 53.
The United States, anxious for a stable consensus, wants the Kurds and majority Shi'ites to form a government that includes Sunnis, hoping that their involvement in the political process will weaken support for the insurgency.
Iraq's parliament will ignore a constitutional provision setting a firm deadline for its first meeting after the election but could meet to choose a president and prime minister from mid-February, officials said on Monday.
"I don't think we're going to meet before mid-February. We have to reach an overall deal first in which we name the president, prime minister and the speaker," Abbas al-Bayati, an official in the dominant Shi'ite Alliance bloc.
He said there was already consensus on Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani staying on as president and on the Alliance, with a near-majority, having the right to name the prime minister. It hoped to decide by the end of the week between the incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Adel Abdul Mahdi.
As the candidates jockey for position, Saddam is due to return to court on Tuesday, although his defence team have said they will seek a halt to proceedings.
The court named a new chief judge on Monday after the original presiding judge resigned and his replacement was accused of being a supporter of the former Iraqi president.
The Iraqi High Tribunal has been in turmoil since Kurdish chief judge Rizgar Amin resigned two weeks ago, complaining about government pressure to speed up the trial and clamp down on tirades by Saddam and some of his seven co-accused.
His resignation rocked a court whose ability to mount a fair trial amid sectarian and ethnic strife had already been thrown into doubt by the killing of two defence lawyers and mutual accusations of intimidation.
Amin's deputy on the five-judge panel, Shi'ite Arab Sayeed al-Hamashi, was chosen by fellow judges last week to preside over Tuesday's session but was swiftly accused of belonging to Saddam's Baath Party, a charge he has denied.
The court said on Monday that Raouf Abdel Rahman, 64, a Kurd like Amin, would preside on Tuesday.
Rahman's home town is Halabja, where Saddam's security forces are accused of killing 5,000 people in one day in 1988 in a poison gas attack. The massacre is one of the atrocities for which Saddam could ultimately be tried.
Saddam is now on trial for crimes against humanity for having 148 men from the Shi'ite town of Dujail killed after an assassination bid there in 1982.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny)
posted by Marko at 1/23/2006 01:49:00 PM
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