Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Kurds, Shiites to share power in Iraqi interim government By TRACI CARL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — Cementing Iraq’s first democratic government in 50 years, one of Saddam’s Hussein’s most implacable enemies took his oath as president Thursday and quickly named another longtime foe of the ousted dictator to the powerful post of prime minister. The new government’s main task will be to draft a permanent constitution and lay the groundwork for elections in December, although some worry that the two months of political wrangling taken up in forming the leadership hasn’t left enough time. The swearing-in ceremony came just two days short of the second anniversary of Baghdad’s fall to U.S.-led forces and underlined the growing power and cooperation of the Shiite Arab majority and Kurdish minority — groups that were long oppressed by Saddam’s regime. There were stumbles, though. After his inaugural speech, interim President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, walked off the stage, and members of the National Assembly and onlookers began to disperse and television feeds were cut. Talabani came back about 10 minutes later and had to shout to a dwindling crowd that the President’s Council — Talabani and his two vice presidents — had, as expected, selected Shiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as interim prime minister. Senior Kurdish official Barham Saleh blamed the misstep on miscommunication, saying lawmakers didn’t realize the ceremony hadn’t ended with Talabani’s speech. Some Shiite lawmakers felt snubbed. “We hope that they forgot,” said Abbas Hassan Mousa al-Bayati, a top member of al-Jafaari’s Shiite dominated United Iraqi Alliance. “This happened because of bad management.” Al-Jaafari didn’t seem upset, telling reporters afterward: “This day represents a democratic process and a step forward.” I - “I’m faced with a big responsibility, and I pray to God that everyone will work hand-in hand and that their efforts will lead to progress and development,” he added. Some Iraqis have expressed concern about al-Jaafari’s close ties to the Islamic government in Iran and his work for the conservative Islamic Dawa Party, which has called for the implementation of Islamic law. But lawmakers didn’t express any reservations Thursday. Al-Jaafari said women will play a bigger role in his government, and he promised to fight the violence of the insurgency. “There are two kinds of terrorism: terrorism from inside Iraq — and these are criminals, some of them with ties to the former regime — and the other is the terrorism exported from abroad,” he said. Iraq’s new leaders were longtime foes of Saddam, who watched a videotape of Talabani’s election Wednesday but was not expected to be shown Thursday’s ceremony. Al-Jaafari spent more than two decades in exile helping to lead anti-Saddam opposition forces among Shiite Arabs, while Talabani was one of the most influential leaders in the resistance of ethnic Kurds to Saddam as well as Arab domination. Shiite Arabs and Kurds have worked together in putting the government together, and Talabani — whose post is largely ceremonial — reached out Thursday to Sunni Arabs, who are believed to make up the backbone of the insurgency and were the dominant group under Saddam. “It is time for our Sunni brothers to participate in the democratic march,” the president said. Lawmakers have appointed Sunni Arabs to several top posts in an effort to build a broad-based government, but prominent Sunni Arab groups have distanced themselves from the new administration. Sunni Arabs have only 17 seats in parliament, largely because CEERWAN AZIZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Newly appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, center, stands with Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, at left, and new Vice Presidents Ghazi al-Yawer, right, and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, right-rear, during newly elected President Jalal Talabani’s speech at the National Assembly session on Thursday in Baghdad. Iraq’s presidential council was sworn in Thursday and named al-Jaafari to the country’s most powerful position, giving Iraq its first freely elected government in 50 years, and its third set of interim leaders since the U.S.-led invasion. many boycotted the Jan. 30 elections or stayed home for fear of attacks at the polls. Shiites have 140 of the 275 seats in the National Assembly, while Kurds have the second largest bloc with 75 seats. Al-Jaafari has a month to name his Cabinet, clearing the way for the new government to begin drafting a permanent constitution before an Aug. 15 deadline. If the constitution is approved in an October referendum, elections for a permanent government are to be held in December. -1 Parliament speaker Hajim al Hassani, a Sunni Arab, urged Iraq’s new leaders to begin immediately. “Your people are looking at you and waiting,” he said. “So, work!” Al-Hassani added that outgoing interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who took over from a U.S. appointed National Governing Council in June, turned in his resignation Thursday. But he said Allawi was asked to conduct the day-to-day work of the government until the Cabinet is rtamed. In violence Thursday, armed men blew up Shiite Muslims’ al Khudir shrine in the Latiiiya area, 35 miles south of Baghdad, Babil police spokesman Muthana Khalid said. Insurgents fired rockets into Fallujah, the restive city in Anbar province, the U.S. military said. It said Marines returned fire but did not immediately know if the rockets caused any damage. In the northern city of Mosul, a bomb attack on an Iraqi army patrol killed three soldiers and wounded 20, said Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi, the Iraqi commander in Mosul. Seven assailants were captured, he said. In Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, a projectile hit an oil tanker, causing an explosion that set several other trucks ablaze. Six drivers were seriously wounded, and another was missing, said Sarhat Qader, the police chief of the suburbs surrounding Kirkuk. Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin, Qasim Abdul-Zahra, Omar Sinan and Mariam Fam contributed to this report. Adventure has a new destination. ,k / /is -M *|j| ^ i^TiTmTT^kTTTTT-t 1 ] j ^ Shuttle astronauts ready to return to space By PAM EASTON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SPACE CENTER, Houston — As she prepares to return a crew of astronauts to space, shuttle commander Eileen Collins said Thursday her crew won’t fly if NASA doesn’t meet a task force’s safety recommendations. “If we ever get to the point where a recommendation is not filled in anyone’s mind, we are not going to fly,” the retired Air Force colonel said as she sat alongside her six-member crew during a news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston. But the space agency’s only female commander said she is confident NASA has met all the requirements — and exceeded some. “We have come a long way, and in that respect, we are ready to fly this mission,” she said, adding neither the task force nor the space agency’s work is complete. “Frankly, at this point, I am not worried,” she said. So far, the agency has met seven of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s 15 recommendations for resuming shuttle flights. Another is on the verge of being fulfilled, and virtually all the paperwork for the remaining seven has been submitted to the task force overseeing NASA’s return-to-flight effort. In late March, the task force put off a meeting to assess NASA’s progress, saying it didn’t have the information it needed. The meeting has not been rescheduled. “I have complete confidence when we launch we will be ready to,” flight director LeRoy Cain said Thursday. We now have a much better appreciation for some areas of risk where before we didn’t.” Discovery, which made it to the launch pad early Thursday morning, is scheduled to lift off May 15 at the earliest. Until then, the crew will continue spacewalk, entry and landing training. The upcoming mission to the international space station would be the first since space shutde Columbia broke apart over Texas in February 2003, killing the seven astronauts aboard as they returned from orbit. Investigators determined Columbia was brought down by a hole in the leading edge of its left wing, caused when a piece of insulating foam broke off its external tank and struck the wing during liftoff. The searing gases of re-entry entered the gash and melted the wing, leading to the breakup of the shuttle. “I think all of us are better people, as well as better astronauts, better managers, better flight controllers because of what we have learned from Columbia,” Collins said. “We need to continue to learn.” When the shuttle returns to orbit, Collins said her crew will remember those who didn’t make it back aboard Columbia. “The crew members were our friends, and we miss them very much,” she said. “The return-to flight effort has not been easy, but because of the work we have done, we are stronger, we are smarter and we are more humble. And we’re safer.” ■ STOSSEL Continued from page 1 has had international consequences. “Osama bin Laden was funded partly by drug money. Horrible side effects,” he said. Stossel said that when he changed the focus of his reporting from consumers to big government, his colleagues had stopped speaking to him. “Someone came up to me on the street the other day and said ‘Are you John Stossel?’ and I said ‘Yeah,’ and they said ‘I hope you die soon.’” Stossel said he was hated as a conservative. “Where I work, in Manhattan, to be called a conservative is like being called a child molester,” Stossel said. I m a libertarian. I’m a funny kind of conservative. I think homosexuality is perfectly natural, I think drugs ought to be legalized. Kinky sex acts between consenting adults should be none of government’s business.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu Wl— ■—I——11 —.— The Law Offices of Edward W. Longshore II I ^ Melissa J. 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