Iraq’s political parties reach compromise
BAGHDAD, Iraq – The political wrangling of Iraq’s infant government can seem futile in the face of relentless violence. But Iraqi lawmakers say politics is their best hope to prevent civil war and send foreign troops home – and on that front, they claimed a victory Thursday.
Now, though, they are left with just two months to draft a constitution. Work on the charter continues daily in a meeting room inside Baghdad’s most heavily fortified area.
Separately, the U.S. military announced Thursday that Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez was charged with murder in the deaths last week of two Army officers at a base north of Baghdad.
The military initially attributed the June 7 killings of the officers – Capt. Phillip T. Esposito 30, of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa. – to an insurgent mortar attack near Tikrit but said further investigation showed the blast pattern was inconsistent with such an attack.
The military also reported five Marines and a sailor were killed Wednesday, and a suicide car bomber rammed into a truck in the capital, killing at least eight police officers and wounding 25 others.
After weeks of back-and-forth, Shiite politicians succeeded at devising a compromise to include Sunni Arabs in drafting Iraq’s new constitution. The stalemate over who should be allowed to draft the constitution had threatened Iraq’s political process as it was entering its final stretch, with two key nationwide votes planned for later this year – a constitutional referendum in October and a general election in December.
The agreement was reached between the Shiite-led government and the leaders of the disaffected Sunni Arab minority. Sunni Arabs are thought to form the backbone of the insurgency.
The constitutional process and attempts to open channels with some militant groups not tied to extremists are touted by the United States and Iraq’s government as a way to help defuse the insurgency.
U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston said tips to Iraqi authorities resulted in Tuesday’s arrest of Mohammed Khalaf, also known as Abu Talha, who was al Qaeda’s leader in Mosul.
“This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda terrorist organization in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi’s leader in Mosul is out of business,” Alston said.
Martinez, 37, a supply specialist with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 42nd Infantry Division, a New York-based National Guard unit, is facing two counts of premeditated murder, according to a statement from Multi-National Corps, Iraq.
He was being held at a military jail in Kuwait and has been assigned a military attorney and has the option of hiring a civilian lawyer, the statement said.
The Marines died Wednesday after their vehicle was attacked near Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. A sailor attached to the Marines’ unit, the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed Wednesday in Ramadi by gunfire, the military said.