New Law in Iraq Gives Premier Martial Powers to Fight Uprising

[mbperrin]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/international/middleeast/07IRAQ.html?th

Published: July 7, 2004


AGHDAD, Iraq — Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Tuesday signed into law broad martial powers that allow him to impose curfews anywhere in the country, ban groups he considers seditious and order the detentions of people suspected of being security risks.

Putting a law in place that permits him to establish emergency powers is one of the first official actions Dr. Allawi has taken against a tenacious insurgency and lays the groundwork for a forceful response to civil unrest. The law was written with the input of lawyers and the ministers of justice and of human rights, he said.

<more>


See, these guys are getting the hang of this democracy thing, after all! They don't hate us at all, they just wanna be like *

[MaryH]

1. Broad Martial Powers?

It is beginning to sound like Democracy is going right out the door - in order to fight "terror."

[Mika]

2. Just following orders

n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Saddam lite

It is beginning to sound like Democracy is going right out the door - in order to fight "terror."

What would shrub do if pennsylvania up and decided that we needed a regime change.... and proceeded (with force) to establish one? Curious.

Are you shocked and awed yet?

[Jack Rabbit]

4. BBC Link

From the BBC Online
Dated Wednesday July 7

Iraq brings in tough security law


The Iraqi government has announced a law allowing it to impose emergency security measures.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signed the law on Wednesday giving the government the power to impose curfews, set up checkpoints and detain suspects.
But the measures can only be applied temporarily and in specific parts of the country.
There has been no let-up in violence, with street fighting and mortar attacks on buildings in central Baghdad . . . .
(Human Rights Minister Bakhtiyar) Amin described the law as being similar to the controversial US anti-terror Patriot Act.
Our correspondent says that if the measures lead to human rights abuses that would certainly alienate many Iraqis.

Read more.

[asjr]

5. All that money to Iraq. All the people killed. All so we

could establish our own Saddam under the same rules as before. Only now they are Shrub rules.

[G_j]

6. "Iraq introduces new security law "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1255906,00.html

Iraq introduces new security law

Associated Press
Wednesday July 7, 2004

Ayad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister, today signed a long-anticipated law giving him the power to impose emergency measures to tackle Iraq's security crisis.

An official in Mr Allawi's office said the new measure gave the Iraqi government the right to impose martial law in special circumstances and for limited periods of time in specific places. The official said the law had been signed and approved by the government.

Mr Allawi and his ministers have, on several occasions, delayed the announcement of a law designed to combat Iraq's growing insurgency. A news conference, at which the final draft of the measure was expected to be unveiled, was set to take place later today.

Officials declined to release a copy of the law before the conference, and its final details - including whether or not an anticipated amnesty would be given to some "low level" insurgents - were not immediately clear.

..more..

[Tempest]

7. A winning combination

Allawi, an ex-CIA spook and Negroponte, the creator of the rightwing death squads in Central America.

This is going to end VERY badly.

[northzax]

8. meet the new boss

same as the old boss.

oh, right, we can 'trust' these guys to not abuse power. now where have I heard that before?

[Caution]

9. And now we see right up front what Bush means

When he talks about freedom and democracy. Wasn't that his stated goal? To bring freedom to the Iraqi people and to turn Iraq into a democracy?

Well now we know exactly what he means by that. His handpicked puppet government passes a law that you can be sure Bush himself is just itching to pass.

[struggle4progress]

10. Bremer: Iraqi Democracy will be Sloppy and Messy

Wednesday, July 07 2004 @ 06:44 AM Central Daylight Time

Paul Bremer, who served as the US appointed Iraqi administrator until sovereignty was handed over to the Iraqi interim government last month, admitted on Tuesday that the new government in Iraq "isn't going to be an American-style democracy".
<snip>

Bremer spoke to the American FOX news channel and stressed that democracy in Iraq will be "sloppy and messy".
<snip>

"We shouldn't kid ourselves," Bremer said. "It will be sloppy and messy at the beginning. People forget it took us 12 years to write our own Constitution. It wasn't very pretty around here either between 1776 and 1787."
<snip>

In answer to criticisms that the dissolution of the Iraqi Army was a mistake, Bremer defended, "I did not dissolve the Iraqi Army. To call the Iraq Army, which oppressed Shiites and Kurds for 35 years, back to duty could pave the way for a civil war."
<snip>

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20040707064455467


Why DON'T our history books tell us stories about hoards of suicide bombers roaming the US between 1776 and 1787?

[saigon68]

11. BREAK OUT THE TESTICLE CRUSHERS BOYS

And while you're at it----- put that electric clip on that penis