The new plan to stop the sectarian violence that's ravaging Iraq's capital hasn't been published and no one will announce when it will start, but that didn't stop a lively debate on the proposal Thursday in the nation's parliament. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged that the government would be evenhanded when it implements the plan, targeting "criminals" rather than religious or ethnic communities. But Sunni Muslim legislators denounced the plan, and one called it a "shame" for Iraq because it calls for an additional 21,500 American troops, whom President Bush dispatched as part of his new strategy for Iraq. Outside, fighting raged on. Along Haifa Street, where Iraqi forces with American support have been battling suspected Sunni insurgents since Jan. 9, residents reached by phone said helicopters were circling the area and that bodies had been left in the street. A car bomb in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karada killed 25 and injured 50. Two roadside bombs in the Baiyaa neighborhood killed three civilians. A bomb attached to a motorcycle killed two civilians and wounded 12 others near the Shorga market in downtown Baghdad.
The U.S. military reported one soldier killed and three wounded from a roadside bomb northwest of the capital on Thursday. Police said 42 bodies bearing signs of torture were found scattered throughout the capital. At least two mortar rounds landed in the fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi officials are headquartered. No one was injured and there was little damage, said Lou Fintor, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy.
Abdul Nasir al-Janabi of the Iraqi Accord Front, a Sunni Islamist party, demanded that U.S. and Iraqi forces allow residents of the Haifa Street area to leave. "We demand an end to the siege of Haifa Street," he said. "Kill whoever you call a terrorist, but don't blockade the civilians."
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh declined to say when the campaign would end. Al-Maliki, in presenting his security plan to Iraq's 275-member parliament, the Iraqi Council of Representatives, dismissed suggestions that it was dictated by the United States. "First, I want to confirm that it's a 100-percent Iraqi plan under Iraqi command," he said. "For the first time the Iraq forces and command hold the responsibility of such a big operation."
Al-Maliki attacked critics who said that the Shiite-led government won't crack down on the Shiite militias that have been terrorizing Sunnis. "Some say that the plan targets Shiites, and others say it targets Sunnis. I want to say it targets all, but all those who break the law," al-Maliki said.