[Marxism] Deputy Police Chief of Baghdad shot dead...and top Sunni group offers to drop boycott if US sets withdrawal timetable

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The position of the Association of Muslim Scholars, offering to drop
support to the boycott if a withdrawal timetable is set, is particularly
interesting because the withdrawal timetable is the official position of
the Shia coalition (although at least one top Shia politician has taken
a more pro-occupation stance.  This suggests to me that discussions
between Sunni and Shia groups may be taking place.  Here's hoping. A US
refusal might also offer some Shia groups a way out of the civil-war
trap that the US imperialists have been setting. Again, here's hoping.
Fred Feldman



  MSNBC.com
Baghdad's deputy police chief slain
Separate police station bombing kills 4 Iraqis

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 4:00 a.m. ET Jan. 10, 2005


BAGHDAD, Iraq - The deputy police chief of Baghdad and his son, also a
police officer, were shot dead Monday, an interior ministry official
said. Meanwhile, the U.S. military denied reports that it had killed
five Iraqis in a gunbattle on Sunday.Brig. Amer Ali Nayef and his son,
Lt. Khalid Amer, were assassinated in Baghdad's south Dora district
while traveling in a car on their way to work, said a spokesman for the
ministry, Capt. Ahmed Ismail. Gunmen sprayed machine-gun fire from two
cars which were driving parallel to the police chief's vehicle before
fleeing the scene of the attack, police said. The two were alone in
their car.

In a separate attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in the courtyard of a
police station in southern Baghdad Monday, killing at least four
policemen and injuring 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake
police car packed with explosives was used in the attack.

The explosion took place at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) in the Zafarniyah
district, police commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said
the explosion happened as policemen were changing shifts.

An Associated Press photographer saw a number of bodies inside the
courtyard that was cordoned off by police

Elsewhere, seven Ukrainian soldiers and one from Kazakhstan died in an
apparently accidental explosion at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad
on Sunday.

[snip]
Elsewhere Sunday, Iraq's most influential Sunni group said it will
abandon its call for a boycott of the elections if the United States
gives a timetable for withdrawing multinational forces.

The Association of Muslim Scholars relayed its request to a senior U.S.
embassy official at a meeting Saturday, a group spokesman said on
condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan on Saturday confirmed the meeting,
which he described as an "exchange of views."

The first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932
is certain to see the Sunnis lose their dominance to the Shiites, who
comprise 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Sunni leaders have
urged a postponement of the vote, largely because areas of Iraq where
they dominate are too restive for preparations to begin.

In what appeared to be another effort to persuade Sunni Muslims to
participate in the vote, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi met Saturday
with 116 tribal leaders, clerics and political personalities from the
restive provinces of Anbar, Salahuddine and Nineva, his office said
Sunday.

The guests expressed support for "the democratic process in Iraq and
cooperation with the government to stand against violence and
terrorism," the office said.

In other developments:

A U.S. soldier assigned to the Task Force Baghdad was killed in a
roadside bomb explosion, the military said without specifying where the
attack occurred.
A Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force also was killed
in action Sunday while conducting security and stability operations in
the western province of Anbar, which is home to the volatile city of
Fallujah, according to a military statement released Monday. More
details were not provided and identities were withheld pending
notification of relatives.
Unknown assailants on Sunday shot Samarra's deputy police chief, Col.
Mohammed Mudhafir, as he drove alone, Samarra police Maj. Raed Ahmed
said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain and the United States
will send a team to Iraq to reassess security in the face of spiraling
violence. "In the key area around Baghdad there is no doubt about it at
all. We have got to deal these people a blow," Blair told British
Broadcasting Corp. TV.
U.S. forces released about 230 Iraqis who had been detained in Abu
Ghraib prison, according to a military statement.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6727646/


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