 An Iraqi politician whose two sons were gunned down Tuesday blasted the attackers and the group that may be behind the killings. Mithal al-Alusi, a moderate Sunni Muslim, isn't the only one speaking out against terrorists lately. Following an estimated voter turnout of more than 50 percent in the Jan. 30 election for a new 275-member assembly, many are starting to feel more courageous. On Thursday Al-Alusi attacked the Association of Muslim Scholars, accusing them of siding with terrorists. Many Iraq politicians have said privately for more than a year that the largest Sunni Muslim political group is the political arm of insurgents in Iraq, who are believed to be a mix of former Saddam loyalists and foreign fighters.
| Comes as a surprise, huh? Who'da ever thunkit? |
"The Committee of Muslim Scholars is a political party. I warn them, and I mean it, to stop siding with terrorism," al-Alusi told media gathered at his house while he waited for the bodies of his sons to arrive home. "They will be punished by the criminal law."
| I think it'd be a better idea to shoot them all, myself... |
In Tuesday morning's attack, the leader of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation decided unexpectedly not to go with his sons, Ayman, 22, and Jamal, 30, just before their car was shot up by gunmen about 200 yards from the house in Baghdad. A bodyguard was also killed. Sheikhs of the group associated with former president Saddam Hussein called for a boycott of the Jan. 30 elections. Some other Sunni groups that boycotted, including the Iraq Islamic Party, now are asking for a seat at the table in writing a new constitution.
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While al-Alusi stopped short of blaming the Association of Muslim Scholars for masterminding the killing of his sons, others have been outspoken recently about past assassinations. Former intelligence officials are still free who were ordered by then deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz to kill his father-in-law in 1994 in Beirut, minister of human rights Baktiar Amin said Tuesday. Assassins were paid for the job with 7 million barrels of oil that should have been monitored by the United Nations under the former oil-for-food humanitarian program, Amin said bitterly. It was impossible to verify his claim. "Tariq Aziz was a Christian puppet," Amin said. "This is an example of how oil-for-food was used for international terrorism."
| And of how very useful the UN actually is... |
But the Sunni Muslim Iraq Islamic Party has sounded a more conciliatory note recently. Even if it doesn't accept the new elected government as legitimate, the group wants to be involved in writing a new constitution, spokesman Tarek al-Hashimi said. "All of the sides want to keep this dialogue going," al-Hashimi said. "What we want to do is write a draft constitution." Officials from the Association of Muslim Scholars say they will not be involved until a timetable for U.S. withdrawal is agreed. Phone calls to several leaders of the group went unanswered Thursday afternoon.
At the same time, Iraq police have changed their tactics in an attempt to put fear into terrorists, said Sabah Kadim, an Interior Ministry spokesman. Pick-up trucks bristling with men holding machine guns, their faces covered by ski masks, are now roaring around the streets of Baghdad, sometimes in packs. The patrols are similar to those under the former Saddam Hussein regime. "If they can't overpower these people, the situation will continue. What good are they?" Kadim said. As attackers started showing up with two or three cars packed with men and machine guns, the police decided to fight fire with fire, Kadim said. "With eight to 16 people with machine guns, (insurgents) could overwhelm one car or an officer directing traffic," Kadim said. "The police need some power." |