• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Bush tells Iraqis "unity or chaos"

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 15:33 CST

By Alastair Macdonald and Lutfi Abu Oun

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Attacks in Baghdad, including a car bomb near a Shi'ite mosque, killed at least 60 people on Tuesday and U.S. President George W. Bush told Iraqis who fear civil war that they faced a choice between "chaos or unity."

As deposed leader Saddam Hussein returned to court after the worst week of sectarian violence since the U.S. invasion, three bombs in quick succession killed 32 people. After dark, a car bomb killed at least 23 near the Shi'ite mosque and a market.

"The choice is chaos or unity," said Bush as the ruling Shi'ites warned sectarian bloodshed that has killed hundreds since a bomb destroyed a major Shi'ite shrine last Wednesday could mean months of delay in bringing Sunnis into the national unity government Washington is pushing hard for them to form.

Fears of all-out war after Shi'ite militias struck back in force for the first time against Sunni insurgents who have been fighting since shortly after the U.S. invasion have seen people barricading neighborhoods or fleeing homes in Baghdad.

A U.S. military intelligence chief called the situation "very tenuous" but not yet civil war: "I believe that the underlying conditions are present, but that we are not involved in a civil war at this time," Defense Intelligence Agency head Lieutenant General Michael Maples told a Senate committee.

Bush, his popularity falling in new opinion polls, has made the withdrawal of 136,000 U.S. troops conditional on the stability he says a non-sectarian government can bring. For now, however, the heavily armed Americans are holding the line behind untested, U.S.-trained Iraqi forces against sectarian militias.

SADDAM ACCUSED

Saddam, looking subdued after ending a hunger strike, was brought into court to hear prosecutors present evidence that included what they said was a death warrant for 148 Shi'ite men signed by him in 1984. He has justified harsh measures during his years in power by the need to stop Iraq breaking apart.

He challenged the authenticity of some documents and the judge, who otherwise kept a firm grip on the previously rowdy proceedings, did rule some of the evidence inadmissible.

Hours before the trial resumed after a two-week suspension, bombs wrecked the tomb of Saddam's father in Tikrit. His lawyers again walked out in protest at the Kurdish judge's refusal to adjourn the hearing. They say the trial is fixed by the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led interim government and the United States.

The prime minister's office, in an unusual move, issued a statement putting the total death toll over six days at 379 "martyrs." But Baghdad morgue alone said it received 309 bodies.

And many relatives, battling against the stench, searched in vain for loved ones they knew to be dead, suggesting the toll could be much higher: "He called and said 'I'm scared'. An hour later someone called and said ... he had been slaughtered," said Ahmed Ismail, whose cousin disappeared three days ago.

"I am going ... to my relatives in Kerbala for few days until things calm down," said Abdel Qadir Shakir, as he boarded a bus for the Shi'ite city to the south. "If it doesn't, I will ... settle in Kerbala because the situation is totally unsafe."

BUSH CALL

Bush recalled his telephone calls to Iraqi leaders on Saturday that led to an emergency meeting of all parties: "They understood the seriousness of the moment," he said. "They have made their choice, which is to work toward a unity government."

The Sunni minority's main political bloc, however, says it was not ready to end the boycott of U.S.-backed talks which it announced in protest against reprisals against Sunni mosques.

Admitting bloodshed had stalled efforts to forge a unity government 11 weeks after Sunnis took part in their first U.S.-sponsored election, National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a senior member of the ruling Shi'ite alliance, said: "If we are lucky it will take us at least two months."

In a sign of tension even among those already involved in government, Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, publicly criticized Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for making an official visit to Turkey while acting only as a caretaker.

And several government officials were critical of the cabinet's failure to prevent last week's attack on the Samarra shrine after it emerged that security officials warned of such an attack; Rubaie said four shrine guards were under arrest.

Officials have accused al Qaeda's Sunni militants of the bloodless attack, saying they wanted to provoke civil war.

Two British soldiers were killed in Shi'ite southern Iraq and U.S. forces reported the death of an American soldier. Five Iraqi soldiers were killed in a Baghdad bomb attack on a Defense Ministry convoy; an aide to the minister survived.

Activity on Baghdad's streets was quiet. Many people said they were staying at home for fear of violence.

Um Yasser, 58, a Sunni who spent the night with her son at Shi'ite neighbors in the tense, mainly Sunni district of Amriya. "He is my only son and I don't want him to die," she said. "If we are attacked, he would be safe," she said. "Our neighbors though, are afraid of being raided by Sunnis."

Saddam-era, Soviet-made Iraqi tanks guarded some Sunni areas and Iraqi and U.S. military units were on patrol.

(Additional reporting by Omar al-Ibadi, Michael Georgy, Mariam Karouny, Ibon Villelabeitia, Mussab Al-Khairalla, Hiba Moussa, Aseel Kami, Ahmed Rasheed and Nick Olivari in Baghdad, Ghazwan al-Jibouri in Tikrit and Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category