U.S. Army soldiers inspect a white Volkswagen that exploded near the al-Zayunah police station, Sunday, July 13, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites). The huge expolosion rattled southeast Baghdad Sunday in what authorities believed to have been a failed attack on a police station full of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police, local police said. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
Bombing and Qaeda Claims as New Iraq Council Meets
By Christine Hauser
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Baghdad bombing killed an Iraqi and claims were broadcast of al Qaeda involvement in attacks on U.S. forces, as an Iraqi Governing Council held an inaugural meeting hailed by Washington and the United Nations.
The council, roughly reflecting Iraq's religious and ethnic make-up and giving Iraqis more say in running the country, said one of its first decisions on Sunday was to abolish all holidays honoring Saddam Hussein. U.S. officials retain the final word on policy.
A group calling itself the "Armed Islamic Movement for Al Qaeda, the Falluja Branch" said in an audio tape broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that it was behind attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and warned of more bloodshed in coming days.
The group, whose name had not been heard of before, said a planned new attack would "break the back of America completely," but did not say whether it would be in Iraq or elsewhere.
The unidentified voice on the tape, which Arabiya aired along with a photograph of a white-bearded man wearing a turban, dismissed suggestions that Saddam loyalists were responsible for attacks on U.S. forces.
"(The attacks) are a result of our brothers in jihad," said the group, identifying itself with the central Iraqi town of Falluja where U.S. forces have been attacked several times.
Arabiya gave no details of the tape's origins and there was no independent evidence on its credibility.
Sunday's bomb blast occurred near a police station in a Baghdad suburb, killing one Iraqi and wounding another, underlining that Iraq remains a dangerous place three months after U.S. and British forces toppled Saddam.
A headless body lay at the scene after the explosion in the western suburb of Maysaloun, next to the wreckage of a car on its side with its roof ripped off.
The police station is visited by U.S. soldiers, who have come under daily attacks in mainly Sunni Muslim central Iraq in recent weeks. Saddam, a Sunni, had strongholds in the region.
In an earlier incident in Baghdad on Sunday, an Iraqi policeman was killed and four were wounded when they tried to help U.S. forces who came under fire at a checkpoint.
Members of the new U.S.-backed police force have been attacked in apparent retaliation for cooperating with occupying powers.
NEW COUNCIL CARRIES U.S. HOPES
The 25-member Governing Council was unveiled amid U.S. hopes raids on American troops will subside if Iraqis feel the occupying powers are transferring authority to local leaders.
More than 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
U.S. forces largely blame die-hard Saddam loyalists for the attacks, but many Iraqis have expressed frustration at what they say has been the slow pace of returning government to Iraqis and rebuilding the war-battered country.
The council can appoint ministers, approve the national budget and review laws, but ultimate authority remains with U.S. and British administrators who have controlled Iraq since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam on April 9.
Its first decisions were to scrap all holidays honoring Saddam and his outlawed Baath Party and to create a new public holiday marking the day of his downfall.
"Saddam has been tossed into the rubbish bin of history and will not be coming back," said Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum, drawing applause at a news conference. Many of the Shi'ite Muslim cleric's relatives were killed by Saddam's government.
Sergio Vieira de Mello, U.N. Special Representative for Iraq, told the council: "There are defining moments in history and today, for Iraq, is definitely one of them."
The council, meeting in a building that was used by Saddam's government, faces a challenge to convince ordinary Iraqis it can represent them, but it does give Iraq's majority Shi'ites 13 of the 25 seats in contrast to their marginalisation under Saddam.
On the streets of Baghdad, some Iraqis felt the council had too many former exiles, while others feared the body was just a tool of the United States.
"We cannot back the council. It is backed by America and it won't change anything. America has just made empty promises," said Sabah Kathim, an ice-seller who earns three dollars a day.
The council comprises 13 Shi'ites, five Sunni Arabs, five Kurds, an Assyrian Christian and a Turkmen. Three members are women and 16 have either returned from exile or from an autonomous Kurdish area which was outside Saddam's control.
"The launch of the governing council will mean that Iraqis play a more central role in running their country," U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said in a statement.
Further ahead lie the drafting of a new constitution, to be approved by a referendum, and finally free elections.