Danger puts distance between council, people

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031021/5605253s.htm

Danger puts distance between council, people Those who cooperate with coalition know they are targets for insurgents

BAGHDAD -- The assassination was nearly flawless. A single shot to the head killed the driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser carrying Akila al-Hashimi, a moderate Shiite Muslim member of the Iraqi Governing Council. A second round struck al-Hashimi in the abdomen.

The driver slumped over, jamming the accelerator and crashing the Land Cruiser into a wall as the assassins fled. Al-Hashimi -- her stomach, pancreas and colon pierced by the bullet -- struggled for five days to survive. But she suffered heart failure and died Sept. 25.

Seventeen days after her death, a suicide bomber struck the Baghdad Hotel, home to five Governing Council members and several government ministers. Security guards at the hotel fired on an explosives-laden car to keep it from getting close to the building, but the bombing still killed at least eight people.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks on government officials, police and other Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition. Most members of the Governing Council, among the most visible of the Iraqis cooperating with the coalition, have vowed to stay in their jobs despite the attacks. But they say the violence and threats are making their tasks more difficult.

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[pfitz59]

1. Puppets for the world to see.....

Fort Apache - Baghdad.

[Barrett808]

2. "Everybody is a target here"

But things are getting better -- Republicans say so.