World

Iraqis Protest U.S. Handover Plan

January 16, 2004 / 7:16 AM EST / CBS/AP

Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims shouting "No to America" marched through the southern Iraqi city of Basra Thursday to back their spiritual leader's call for early elections, a stand that could stymie a U.S. blueprint for transferring power to a new Iraqi administration.

The demonstration in Iraq's second largest city followed a string of violent incidents across the country, including a car bombing in Baqouba and a series of clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents, which left 20 people dead.

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Shiite Muslims turned out in support of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani's demand for an interim legislature to be elected directly and not chosen in provincial caucuses as called for under a U.S. plan.

The massive show of support showed that the United States cannot afford to take lightly al-Sistani, the most powerful cleric of Iraq's majority Shiites.

In other developments:

A military spokesman says American soldiers stationed in pro-Saddam Hussein areas of central Iraq killed seven alleged insurgents in separate clashes. The clashes happened Tuesday around the volatile city of Baqouba. One U.S. soldier was wounded.

Two foreign civilian drivers were killed during an attack near Tikrit on a convoy operated by U.S. contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, said military spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle.

U.S. authorities bear a "criminal" responsibility in the deaths of two reporters killed when a tank fired at a Baghdad hotel because troops had not been told that the building housed journalists, a press freedom group charged. The U.S. military absolved American forces of wrongdoing, saying they fired in self-defense.

Iraq's old bank notes bearing Saddam's portrait became obsolete currency at the end of a three-month period to exchange them for the new sophisticated dinar. More than 10,000 tons of worthless notes bearing the image of the captured Saddam are now being destroyed, said officials.

Japan's military geared up for a controversial deployment in Iraq while opponents of the mission vowed more protests. Hundreds of troops here have been waiting for months for the order to mobilize for a humanitarian operation unprecedented both in scale and danger for Japan's post World War II military.

In a visit to Los Angeles on Wednesday, Vice President Dick Cheney defended the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptive attacks against those believed to support terrorism, saying policies of deterrence and containment are "meaningless" in the fight against terrorism and won't stop "rogue regimes" from providing them with weapons.

"There can be no waiting until danger" becomes apparent, Cheney said. At the same time, he later said that the United States always considers the use of military force as "a last resort."

But there are still doubts about the basis for the preemptive war on Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction have been reported found.

Before invading, the United States asserted that Saddam's regime had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent that is stored in liquid form. The chemical burns the skin, eyes and lungs.

On Friday, Danish troops in southern Iraq discovered 36 mortar shells on which field tests indicated a blister agent. But the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group conducted tests on five of the shells — which apparently date to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s — and all came up negative, the Danish army said Wednesday in a statement from Copenhagen.

But, it said, a final word on the contents of the suspicious cache will only come after a final test in a lab in Idaho in three to five days.

In an interview with World Radio on Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said of the weapons hunt: "We are still looking. We are still searching. The one thing that was absolutely clear is that he had the intention to have such weapons and he had programs to develop such weapons."

"What we weren't sure about is how many such weapons he actually had," Powell added.

As uncertainty over the U.S. rationale for war persisted, there was also growing concern over the U.S.-backed plan for its aftermath.

Under the current plan, the United States will transfer power by July 1 to a provisional Iraqi government to be created by a legislature chosen by provincial caucuses. The plan — decided in November between the U.S.-led occupation authority and the interim Iraqi Governing Council — envisions a two-year political transition before full elections in 2005.

Al-Sistani, the top cleric of Iraq's Shiite majority, wants an interim legislature to be elected directly, not chosen in provincial caucuses.

In the holy city of Najaf where al-Sistani lives, flyers and posters distributed and plastered on walls Wednesday urged Iraqis to oppose the plan. "Forming the Provisional National Assembly through an unjust method will subject the Iraqi people to a new round of oppression," said one of the unsigned posters.

The cleric also wants to require that the elected assembly approve any agreements on the status of U.S. forces in Iraq after the transfer of sovereignty and the interim constitution that the Governing Council is drafting.

U.S. officials say the plan may have to be altered, but insist the July 1 deadline remains their goal.

L. Paul Bremer, America's top civilian official in Iraq, was due to fly to Washington later Thursday for what a coalition official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described as consultations with the Bush administration.

Iraqi leaders and U.S. authorities a meeting next week with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will help resolve the impasse.

In Basra, the protesters shouted "No, No to America! Yes, yes to al-Sistani!" as they marched through the streets, watched closely by British soldiers, before dispersing peacefully.

"We are here to support Sistani's edict to avoid an appointed council laying down our constitution. If that happens we will resist," said Osama Mohammad, a 32-year-old unemployed man.

Troops found and defused a homemade bomb made up of 155 mm artillery shells on a roadside.

"We had a good peaceful demonstration in Basra today, the people are exercising their new found right of freedom of expression," said British army Maj. Mike Elviss.