Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
November 30, 2007
Pg. 12
By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD, Nov. 29 — Two car bombs were found near the house of a senior Sunni political leader on Thursday, and seven of his bodyguards were arrested, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
The house of the prominent Sunni, Adnan al-Dulaimi, a leader of the Iraqi Consensus Front, is in Adel, an affluent Sunni-majority neighborhood in Baghdad.
Iraqi soldiers backed by American forces found the cars while searching for the killer of Omar Muhammad, a fighter in the local Sunni Awakening Council, a group of people who recently banded together to take on extremist fighters active in the area, said Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
“The first result of the investigation showed that the guards made the bombs and that they were plotting to kill Awakening Council fighters,” Mr. Atta said.
Mr. Dulaimi did not return telephone calls, but his secretary, Mohaned al-Essawi, said that there was only one car bomb and that Mr. Dulaimi was the target. “All the statements of Qassim Atta are lies,” Mr. Essawi said. “In every neighborhood murders happen, and Adnan al-Dulaimi’s guards are not responsible for this murder.”
In comments to Reuters, Mr. Dulaimi emphasized that the bombs were found in an alley outside his home. Mr. Essawi said that the one bomb he acknowledged was not inside Mr. Dulaimi’s compound. It is hard to understand why Mr. Dulaimi’s guards might want to kill fellow Sunnis in the Awakening Council, although there have been tensions in some areas between Sunni politicians and the Council.
A military official familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation, said that it was impossible to rule out that an enemy of Mr. Dulaimi might have been trying to frame him.
In the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday, lawmakers thwarted efforts by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to win approval for two new ministers, keeping the measure from coming to a vote. The two nominees, for the Communications and Justice Ministries, would be filling jobs left vacant when ministers for the secular Iraqiya bloc, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, stepped down this year.
Lawmakers who helped to block the vote said they were protesting Mr. Maliki’s failure to consult them before sending his nominees to the Parliament for approval. Some also said they were angry about a proposed new rule that would allow the Parliament to approve legislation with just a majority of those present instead of a majority of the total body.
The 275-member Parliament rarely has a quorum, so if only a majority of those present approve legislation, it means that measures could pass with only a minority of legislators voting.
“We have agreed that this is a unity government and that the prime minister should lead a government of national unity,” said Qassim Daoud, an independent Shiite member of Parliament. “He violated this by sending us the names of these ministers without consulting the blocs.”
“He has to make an effort to engage the Tawafiq bloc,” he said, referring to the Iraqi Consensus Front, the largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in Parliament. Mr. Maliki has had tense relations with the group for months. Legislators in that bloc, as well as those connected to Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric, walked out of Thursday’s session in protest.
Mr. Maliki’s disagreements with various blocs had left 17 ministries vacant for months. Recently he succeeded in filling two posts, in health and agriculture.
Violence outside Baghdad remained generally low, although there were a few exceptions, notably in Salahuddin and Diyala Provinces. Several mayors of towns in Salahuddin have been the targets of attacks in the last two days, and pamphlets appeared with threats to kill local officials, especially those working with the Awakening Councils.
In Australia, the prime minister-elect, Kevin Rudd, said about 550 combat troops in Iraq, out of 1,500 Australian troops in the region, would be withdrawn by the middle of next year, Reuters reported.
Qais Mizher contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Diyala and Salahuddin Provinces.
November 30, 2007
Pg. 12
By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD, Nov. 29 — Two car bombs were found near the house of a senior Sunni political leader on Thursday, and seven of his bodyguards were arrested, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
The house of the prominent Sunni, Adnan al-Dulaimi, a leader of the Iraqi Consensus Front, is in Adel, an affluent Sunni-majority neighborhood in Baghdad.
Iraqi soldiers backed by American forces found the cars while searching for the killer of Omar Muhammad, a fighter in the local Sunni Awakening Council, a group of people who recently banded together to take on extremist fighters active in the area, said Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
“The first result of the investigation showed that the guards made the bombs and that they were plotting to kill Awakening Council fighters,” Mr. Atta said.
Mr. Dulaimi did not return telephone calls, but his secretary, Mohaned al-Essawi, said that there was only one car bomb and that Mr. Dulaimi was the target. “All the statements of Qassim Atta are lies,” Mr. Essawi said. “In every neighborhood murders happen, and Adnan al-Dulaimi’s guards are not responsible for this murder.”
In comments to Reuters, Mr. Dulaimi emphasized that the bombs were found in an alley outside his home. Mr. Essawi said that the one bomb he acknowledged was not inside Mr. Dulaimi’s compound. It is hard to understand why Mr. Dulaimi’s guards might want to kill fellow Sunnis in the Awakening Council, although there have been tensions in some areas between Sunni politicians and the Council.
A military official familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation, said that it was impossible to rule out that an enemy of Mr. Dulaimi might have been trying to frame him.
In the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday, lawmakers thwarted efforts by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to win approval for two new ministers, keeping the measure from coming to a vote. The two nominees, for the Communications and Justice Ministries, would be filling jobs left vacant when ministers for the secular Iraqiya bloc, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, stepped down this year.
Lawmakers who helped to block the vote said they were protesting Mr. Maliki’s failure to consult them before sending his nominees to the Parliament for approval. Some also said they were angry about a proposed new rule that would allow the Parliament to approve legislation with just a majority of those present instead of a majority of the total body.
The 275-member Parliament rarely has a quorum, so if only a majority of those present approve legislation, it means that measures could pass with only a minority of legislators voting.
“We have agreed that this is a unity government and that the prime minister should lead a government of national unity,” said Qassim Daoud, an independent Shiite member of Parliament. “He violated this by sending us the names of these ministers without consulting the blocs.”
“He has to make an effort to engage the Tawafiq bloc,” he said, referring to the Iraqi Consensus Front, the largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in Parliament. Mr. Maliki has had tense relations with the group for months. Legislators in that bloc, as well as those connected to Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric, walked out of Thursday’s session in protest.
Mr. Maliki’s disagreements with various blocs had left 17 ministries vacant for months. Recently he succeeded in filling two posts, in health and agriculture.
Violence outside Baghdad remained generally low, although there were a few exceptions, notably in Salahuddin and Diyala Provinces. Several mayors of towns in Salahuddin have been the targets of attacks in the last two days, and pamphlets appeared with threats to kill local officials, especially those working with the Awakening Councils.
In Australia, the prime minister-elect, Kevin Rudd, said about 550 combat troops in Iraq, out of 1,500 Australian troops in the region, would be withdrawn by the middle of next year, Reuters reported.
Qais Mizher contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Diyala and Salahuddin Provinces.