More Attacks Ahead Of Iraq Vote
Insurgents using suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 13 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wounded 19 on Thursday in the latest of a string of attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq's constitutional referendum next week.
Under U.S. and U.N. pressure, parliament on Wednesday reversed its last-minute electoral law changes, which would have ensured passage of the new constitution in the Oct. 15 referendum, but which the United Nations called unfair.
Sunni Arab leaders who had threatened a boycott because of the changes said they were satisfied with Wednesday's reversal and are now mobilizing to defeat the charter at the polls. But some warned they could still call a boycott to protest major U.S. offensives launched over the past week in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland.
In other developments:
Every group of newly-trained Iraq recruits hides spies, and while the vetting process is improving, there is no way to ensure everyone is loyal, reports
. One Pentagon source estimates that as many as one in five of the recruits in the Sunni Triangle could be infiltrators.Like other Iraqis, Lamia Dhyab picked up her copy of the draft constitution at the small shop where she presents her ration card in south Baghdad each month to get government-subsidized food for her family.
"We are going to read the draft constitution. If we like it, we will vote yes. If we don't, we'll say no," said Dhyab, who was wearing a chador, the traditional head-to-toe black outfit that Muslim women often wear.
She was lined up with other Iraqis in her neighborhood of Dora, a southern part of the capital that has been hard hit by insurgent attacks.
Thursday's two deadliest attacks in Baghdad involved suicide car bombers.
One hit a police patrol near the Oil Ministry, killing nine Iraqis and wounding nine, police said. The attack occurred on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, about 400 yards from the ministry, said police Capt. Nabil Abdul Qadir. The dead included five policemen and four civilians, and the wounded four policemen and five civilians, he said.
Earlier Thursday, in Karrada, another part of eastern Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded near a convoy of private security contractors on Nidhal Street, killing three Iraqi bystanders and wounding six others, said police Maj. Mohammed Yunis. One of the four white SUVs in the convoy was damaged, but none of the foreigners in them were hurt.
In northern Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. Army patrol in northern Baghdad, killing one soldier, the military said, said U.S. Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams, a military spokesman.
That attack raised to at least 1,945, the number of U.S. military members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
At least 283 people have been killed by insurgents in Iraq in the past 11 days.
The insurgent attacks — often targeting Shiite Muslims — are aimed at wrecking the referendum. Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has declared "all-out war" on Shiites, has called for stepped-up violence during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month now under way.
While stressing that Britain "cannot be sure" about Iran's possible role, Blair linked the issue to the diplomatic confrontation between Tehran and Western nations over Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no justification for Iran or any other country interfering in Iraq," Blair said during a news conference with Talabani.
"Neither will be subject to any intimidation in raising the necessary and live issues to do with the nuclear weapons obligations under the (International) Atomic Energy Agency treaty."
"The continued presence of British and American troops is absolutely vital to us," Talabani said at the news conference.
"We too want to see an end to the presence of the multinational force, but the actions of the terrorists are keeping them there," Talabani said.
"We will set no timetable for the withdrawal of troops. A timetable will only help the terrorists think they can impose their will on us."
Blair said British troops would stay as long as they were requested by the Iraqi government. "They tell us what to do and when to go, and if they tell us to go, we go," he said.
Blair said it was vital that the international community continue to support Iraq's emerging democracy.
"This is a battle now for the future of Iraq, for the future of the region and, I believe, for the future security of the world," he said.
On Wednesday, a senior government official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said there was evidence that Iran was in contact with Sunni Muslim insurgent groups battling coalition forces. He did not specify whether the alleged Iranian technology also was responsible for American soldiers' deaths, according to Britain's Press Association.
Tehran's Foreign Ministry dismissed the accusations Wednesday, with a spokesman saying Britain should provide evidence of its claims, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
On Thursday, Blair appeared to back away slightly from the accusations made a day earlier.
"We know that the devices are of a similar nature to those used by Hezbollah, and there are certain pieces of information that lead us back to Iran," Blair said. "But I'm not saying any more than that — we cannot be sure of this."
Hezbollah was formed in 1982 with Iranian backing during Israel's invasion of Lebanon. It has been linked to the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon.
It's estimated that Iran provides Hezbollah with $10-$20 million monthly.