U.S., Iraqis Step Up Security Before Vote
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

BAGHDAD (Iraq): U.S. and Iraqi forces stepped up security across the country Thursday and prepared to impose an overnight curfew to try to reduce insurgent attacks aimed at wrecking this weekend's constitutional referendum.

One day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a set of last-minute amendments to the constitution without a vote, sealing a compromise designed to win minority Sunni Arab support for the charter, cities such as Baghdad were unusually quiet Thursday as a four-day national holiday began.

Government offices and schools were closed ahead of Saturday's vote. The government ordered a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew to begin Thursday, and Iraq's borders will be closed Friday and all travel among its provinces stopped.

President Bush sought to rally U.S. troops in Iraq ahead of the vote and to brace them for an expected surge in violence, saying "the enemy understands that a free Iraq would be a blow to their vision."

"We're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush said in a video conference with soldiers from the Army's 42nd Infantry Division, based in Tikrit.

A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday when a roadside bomb hit his combat patrol near Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. The death brought to 1,965 the number of U.S. service members killed since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Working under cover of darkness, U.S. and Iraqi forces raided suspected militant safe houses in cities such as Baghdad, and built 4-foot-tall concrete barriers topped with concertina wire in front of polling places such as schools. The walls are designed to protect the areas from bombing by insurgents.

Police went even further in Mosul, a city northwest of Baghdad that has suffered many militant attacks, imposing a ban on all civilian vehicles. A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy there Thursday, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding one, said police Brig. Gen. Saeed Ahmed al-Jibouri.

A car bomb also hit an Iraqi police patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing two policemen and wounding two, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir.

In the last 18 days, at least 443 people have been killed as the insurgents try to scare voters away from the polls. Most of the deaths have been caused by suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and drive-by shootings. The bodies of many other Iraqis who had been kidnapped and killed have been found in isolated areas.

"Our soldiers recognize that they are not here to influence the election, but they are here to allow the Iraqi people the opportunity to vote," said U.S. Lt. Col. Jeff Edge, as his battalion delivered barriers to a volatile, mostly Sunni area of southwest Baghdad.

During the first three days this week, Iraqi and U.S. forces in the capital, backed by Black Hawk helicopters, reported capturing 75 suspected insurgents, seizing three large weapons caches and rescuing an Iraqi man who had been kidnapped by insurgents.

There are now 156,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, a total that has been rising in recent weeks as the 101st Airborne returns, along with lead elements of the 3rd Corps Support Command. Before that regularly scheduled rotation, the number was about 140,000, the military said.

In another development, thousands of Iraqi detainees who have not been brought to trial were allowed to vote early in the constitutional referendum at U.S. prisons such as the notorious Abu Ghraib detention center.
It was not immediately known if the voters included Saddam Hussein. The Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq had said the imprisoned former leader would be allowed to vote, but its general director, Adel Allami, said Thursday he did not know.

Saddam's long-awaited trial begins Wednesday. He and seven of his regime's henchmen are accused of ordering the 1982 massacre of 143 people in a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad following a failed attack on Saddam's life.

Iraqis watching state-owned Al-Iraqiya television on Wednesday night saw the National Assembly approve a set of last-minute amendments to the constitution without a vote, sealing a compromise designed to win Sunni support and to boost its chances in the referendum.

At least one major Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it will now support the draft at the polls. But some other Sunni parties rejected the amendments and said they would still campaign for a "no" vote.

Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, also weighed in, ordering Shiites to vote "yes" in the referendum, according to one of his aides, Faisal Thbub. It was the most direct show of support for the charter by al-Sistani, whose call brought out huge numbers of voters to back Shiite parties in January elections.

But the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars urged the Iraqi Islamic Party to withdraw its support for a constitution that would "fragment Iraq and destroy its identity." In a statement, the association urged Sunnis to vote "no."

Most Significant Change

The National Assembly's most significant change is the introduction of a mechanism allowing Sunni Arabs to try to make more substantive changes in the constitution later, after a new parliament is elected in December.

Sunnis want to weaken the considerable autonomous powers the Shiite and Kurdish mini-states would have under the constitution. But there's no guarantee they will succeed: They will still likely face strong opposition from majority Shiites and Kurds in the new parliament.

The amendments also made some key symbolic concessions to Sunnis, starting with the first article underlining that Iraq will be a single nation with its unity guaranteed — a nod to fears among the disaffected minority that the draft as it stood would fragment the country.

The changes will likely split the Sunni vote enough to prevent them from defeating the draft constitution. It will be rejected if more than two-thirds of the voters oppose it in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces, and Sunnis have the potential to do so in just four.

The charter's passage is a key goal of the U.S., since failure would mean months more political instability and would delay U.S. plans to start pulling out troops. Sunni Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said the amendments meant Sunnis had to work harder in the December parliamentary elections to ensure a strong presence in the next parliament to try for future, deeper changes in the constitution.

They have only 17 lawmakers in the 275-member parliament after largely boycotting Jan. 30 elections.

Tuesday's hour-long session, attended by 159 members — ended without a vote on the amendments, but Parliament Speaker Hajim al-Hassani said no actual vote was necessary and that the compromise was approved.

Another significant amendment assures Sunni Arabs that they will not be purged in Iraq's de-Baathification program simply for belonging to Saddam's ousted Baath Party. Many current Sunni Arab political leaders were Baath members and insist only those who actually committed crimes should be prosecuted.●