Bus Bombed; 2 GIs Dead In Iraq
A suicide bomber detonated hidden explosives on a small bus in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least five people, and two American soldiers died in separate attacks, authorities said.
One of the Americans died in a roadside bombing between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, while the other was killed by small arms fire in Ramadi, the U.S. military said. The suicide bomber struck while on the public bus in a bustling, open-air bus terminal, killing five people and wounding eight, police said.
The deaths raised to 1,912 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
President Bush,
, acknowledged the loss of American lives and said, "We'll honor their sacrifice by completing the mission and winning the war on terrorism."He added that withdrawing American forces from Iraq would make the world more dangerous and allow terrorists "to claim an historic victory over the United States."
In an interview Thursday, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister said if U.S. troops pulled out now, Iraq would dissolve into civil war. Prince Saud al-Faisal also said he was worried that divisions among Iraq's Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni factions were too great.
"We have not seen a move inside Iraq that would satisfy us that the national unity of Iraq, and therefore the territorial unity of Iraq, will be assured," Saud said.
In related developments:
Saudi Arabian foreign minister Saud also said Thursday: "I don't think that a constitution by itself will resolve the issues, or an election by itself will solve the difficult problems."
Less than a month before a national referendum on Iraq's new constitution, the government's campaign to win support for the charter has won the critical backing of the most influential Shiite religious leader.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, meeting with aides Thursday in the holy city of Najaf, urged his followers to vote "yes," according to two top officials in his organization, who refused to be identified because they were not authorized to speak for the reclusive cleric. He only issues statements through his office and makes no public appearances.
In January, millions of Shiites followed al-Sistani's call to vote in Iraq's first democratic elections in nearly half a century, and the ballot gave the Muslim sect a majority in the new parliament and government.
If two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject the constitution during the Oct. 15 national referendum, a new government must be formed and the process of writing the document would start again.
Days after the draft constitution was approved by Iraq's National Assembly and sent to the United Nations for printing and distribution, the government released fliers and posters, with the banner headline stating: "Read the constitution, it was written for your freedom." But copies of the document have not been distributed publicly yet.
Most Sunni Muslim clerics and politicians have urged their followers to veto the charter, complaining they did not have adequate representation in drafting it. Sunnis, the favored group under Saddam, are estimated to make up nearly 20 percent of the population and form the majority in four of the country's 18 provinces.
In Amman, Jordan, about 150 Iraqi Sunni clerics and tribal leaders called for its rejection.
Two other popular leaders in Iraq's majority Shiite sect, Muqtada al-Sadr and Ayatollah Mohammed al-Yaqoubi, also oppose the constitution, and their stand — representing a potentially serious rift in the Shiite monolith — has been reflected in the recent violence in the southern city of Basra.
Rioting broke out in Basra on Monday after British armored vehicles and troops encircled a jail where the two soldiers were taken after their arrests by police. Rioters threw firebombs and stones at British forces, and TV cameras caught images of soldiers, some with their clothes on fire, jumping from burning vehicles and running from mobs. Five Iraqis reportedly died, but British soldiers suffered only minor injuries.