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Al-Hakim Calls for Iranian Role Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, member of the Interim Governing Council and head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called in a statement distributed to politicians and clerics in Iran for that country to play a major role in Iraqi reconstruction. Al-Hakim said that Iran had stood with the […]

Najaf Religious Authorities Rebuke IGC on Nationalities Law The Interim Governing Council issued a new law on Iraqi nationality in September, allowing dual citizenship. A number of the IGC members have dual citizenship, which was prohibited under the Baath regime, and holders of dual nationality were forbidden to hold office. The new law also allows […]

Process of Writing New Constitution Delayed Seemingly irreconcilable differences will delay the writing of an Iraqi constitution, says journalist Ahmad Mukhtar in Iraq Today. He says that the Shiites on the Interim Governing Council demand that the drafters of the constitution be elected. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani suggested recently that a delegate be chosen on […]

Turkish Troops for Iraq The US may get 10,000 or so Turkish troops for Iraq, if the Turkish parliament approves the step. The US military desperately needs the help, but this move is likely to deeply complicate US relations with the Iraqi Kurds. So far the Kurdish areas have been relatively quiet, with the exception […]

Jordanian Islamists ask Government not to Train Iraqi Police Jordan’s Islamists asked the government of King Abdullah II not to train 30,000 Iraqi police, as is now planned. They said it was inappropriate given that Iraq is occupied, since it would just help the US consolidate its colonial position in Iraq. (-al-Sharq al-Awsat).

References http://www.novinite.com/ newsletter/print.php?id=26801 Robin Wright on Iran and Iraq http://www.latimes.com/news/ nationworld/iraq/la-fg-usiran4oct04-1.story Delays in writing Iraqi Constitution http://www.iraq-today.com/ article.php?id=11 New Iraqi nationality law http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ 2003-10/01/content_1108999.htm

Unemployment Riots in Baghdad and Basra for Second Day Hundreds of former soldiers rioted in Basra and demonstrated in Baghdad on Sunday, after similar violence on Saturday in Basra, Baghdad and Hilla. In Basra, four hundred men closed the main road. British troops fired rubber bullents to disperse them, wounding five people. At one point […]

Israeli Attack on Syria Poses Dilemma to Old Guard in Damascus I heard the Israeli ambassador to the UN allege on Sunday that Israel’s attack on Syria on Sunday resembled the US attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan. This analogy is incorrect. The US was not sending US citizens to grab land and settle any […]

Bangladesh Division Ruled Out Bangladesh told US Secretary of State Colin Powell that it would not send troops to Iraq, only peace-keepers. Moreover, it would only send peace-keepers if an elected government of Iraq asked Bangladesh for them. Since there is unlikely to be an elected government of Iraq until early 2005 at the earliest, […]