Iraqis warn Bremer on veto threat; Violence continues

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: As violence continued on Tuesday, Iraqi Shiites have warned Paul Bremer, US top civil administrator in Iraq, against the risk of a crisis should he carry out his threat to veto an Islamic constitution for the country.

Clerics reacted angrily to Bremer's threat to use his veto if the US-appointed Governing Council proposes a basic law that challenges the spirit of Western-style democracy.

The Najaf head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) Sheikh Sadruddin al-Kubbanji on Tuesday warned against US intervention in the drafting of the country's legal code.

“I think that if one seeks to impose another solution than what the Iraqi population wants, it would spark a crisis and none of the parties want this to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's deputy interior minister Ahmed Ibrahim confirmed Tuesday that five men were arrested over the weekend in connection with the murder last year of Governing Council member Akila al-Hashemi.

Roadside bombs have claimed more American lives, killing three US soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad and the north of the capital bringing to 541 the number of Americans who have died since the launch of Iraq war in March. At least six soldiers were injured in the attacks, one critically.

In the biggest attack, one soldier from Task Force Iron Horse was killed and four were wounded in a roadside bombing in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad.

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