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Sunni Arab leaders reject Shiite proposal
12.8.2005
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
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BAGHDAD, Iraq
(AP) - Sunni Arab leaders on Friday rejected calls
for a Shiite federal region to be enshrined in the
constitution, saying the proposal would fracture
Iraq along religious and ethnic lines. The dispute
threatens to delay completion of the charter by a
Monday deadline.
Sunni Arab leaders were responding to a demand by a
leading Shiite lawmaker for provisions to allow
local Shiite control in the southern and central
parts of the country. Sunni Arabs fear they will
lose out on oil revenues if the country is split
into federated zones.
"We reject it wherever it is, whether in the north
or in the south, but we accept the Kurdish region as
it was before the war,'' said Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni
member of the committee drafting the constitution.
Some Shiite leaders want to replicate the success of
Kurdish leaders in the north who govern an
autonomous part of the country.
"The aim of federalism is to divide Iraq into ethnic
and sectarian areas. We will cling to our stance of
rejecting this,'' Hamdoun said.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Apache helicopter crashed Friday
in northern Iraq, injuring two U.S. troops, and a
roadside bomb killed an American soldier in the
central city of Tikrit, the military said.
The two injured servicemembers were being evacuated
in the area of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad,
said Staff Sgt. Duane Brown, a spokesman for the
42nd Infantry Division. He said the helicopter crash
was under investigation.
In central Iraq, a U.S. soldier was killed Friday in
a roadside bombing while on patrol in Tikrit, 80
miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The
soldier, whose name was not released, was assigned
to Task Force Liberty.
The American casualties came as the death toll among
the National Guard and Reserve in Iraq soared to at
least 32 in the first 10 days of August, according
to a Pentagon count. That total is more that in any
full month of the entire war.
More broadly, Pentagon casualty reports show that
the number of deaths among Guard and Reserve forces
has been trending upward much of this year, totaling
more than 100 since May 1. That ranks as the
deadliest stretch of the war for the Guard and
Reserve, whose members perform both combat and
support missions.
An official in radical cleric's Muqtada al-Sadr
office said Friday that members of a Shiite militia
raided a house in Baghdad and freed four hostages
including Syrian and Lebanese citizens.
An Associated Press photographer met the freed
hostages who identified themselves as Syrian Hisham
Salem, Lebanese Mustafa Abdul-Rassoul Hussein, and
dual Syrian-Lebanese citizen Atta Ibrahim. The
fourth was an Iraqi Kurd who identified himself as
Haji Alawi.
The men were held in an apartment in Baghdad's
northern neighborhood of Shaab, said Amer al-Husseini,
of al-Sadr's office in the nearby Shiite
neighborhood of Sadr City. The four were released
late Thursday night, al-Husseini said.
Insurgents have kidnapped more than 200 foreigners
in Iraq. Numerous Lebanese citizens have been
kidnapped and released, some after the payment of
ransom.
In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi
soldiers killed three insurgents trying to break
into a polling station to be used for the October
constitutional referendum, police Col. Khourshid
Zibari said. One of the insurgents was wearing an
explosive belt, Zibari said.
In southern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a
police patrol, injuring four people, police Col.
Asad al-Ghreiri said.
Two truck drivers were missing after gunmen attacked
their vehicles carrying supplies for a U.S. base on
a highway west of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad,
police 1st Lt. Mohammed al-Obeidi said.
During a speech Thursday to cheering crowds in Najaf,
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the country's biggest
Shiite party, called for a Shiite federal state,
saying it was needed "to keep a political balance in
the country'' after decades of dictatorship under
Saddam Hussein.
Al-Hakim's call may have been a last-minute
bargaining tactic, Sunni Arabs immediately rebuked
the proposal.
Some prominent Sunnis have suggested that a decision
on federalism should be delayed until a new
parliament is elected in December. That parliament
is expected to have more Sunni Arab members than the
current one because many Sunnis boycotted the
January election.
The incorporation of Sunni Arabs into the political
process is seen as central to undermining the
insurgency.
Al-Hakim's endorsement could pave the way for a
Shiite south and a Kurdish north. The Kurds have
demanded federalism to maintain control over three
northern provinces and also want authority over
Kirkuk, from which thousands of Kurds were expelled
by Saddam.
Government officials urged compromise after
al-Hakim's speech. "Every group is saying that they
have stands that they cannot abandon because they
are 'red lines' but in the end, everyone is going to
make some concessions,'' presidential spokesman
Kamran Qaradaghi said Thursday.
Al-Hakim is close to Iraq's leading Shiite cleric,
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had been
reluctant to support federalism. Al-Sistani
conferred Wednesday night with al-Hakim and radical
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a bid for Shiite
unity.
Although al-Sistani has issued no statement about
federalism, an official close to the ayatollah said
Thursday his silence should be interpreted as
support. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity under rules imposed on the ayatollah's
entourage.
"The Shiite community feels in danger,'' the
official said. "If Shiites are going to be
threatened, they have many cards to play. And if
Shiites are going to be sidelined, they will not lie
down.''
AP
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