death penalty news June 11, 2004
IRAQ: Death penalty on premier's security agenda - he also suggests reconstituting intelligence police Iraq's newly appointed prime minister is moving to resurrect domestic intelligence services and may reinstitute the death penalty as ways to combat the country's persistent lawlessness and violence. Iyad Allawi, a onetime member of Iraq's Baath Party who became a CIA- backed opponent of Saddam Hussein's government, said Thursday that the interim government has already begun reconstituting an Iraqi intelligence service and hopes to build an anti-terrorism unit. "We need to reconstitute or build an internal security apparatus similar to (Britain's) MI5 or the FBI, which has the power of interrogation and detention," Allawi told a small group of reporters at a party honoring Iraqi women Thursday night. He also confirmed that ministers in his interim government, appointed June 1, were considering reviving capital punishment as a step toward combating "the evil forces trying to spread their poison and damage Iraqi society." The death penalty was suspended in April 2003 by U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, who was head of Central Command, as the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country and toppled Hussein's government. In an interview earlier this week, newly appointed interim Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan suggested re-establishing the death penalty as a way to deter criminals and terrorists. But human rights activists and others have complained that the unelected government has no authority to make such a drastic move. Allawi, who spent 22 years in exile organizing former members of the Baath Party to fight Hussein, outlined his vision for a democratic, federal government allied closely with the United States on foreign policy matters. He played down recent reports of rifts between Iraq's Kurds and Shiite Arabs, who have both complained that they do not have enough power in deciding the future of Iraq's government. "All Iraqis of the various constituencies feel insecure one way or another," he said in fluent English. "I think it is the role of the new government of Iraq really to play a significant role in ensuring all sections of the new Iraq that this is a new Iraq where all constituencies are going to be respected." Allawi emerged as the favorite of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council last month. The United States and United Nations eventually gave his caretaker government their blessing. His Cabinet must prepare for nationwide elections by January to seat a new Iraqi government. Allawi deftly worked the crowd at the party at the home of Bakhtiar Amin, the new minister of human rights. With the cameras and lights of Arab television networks trained on him, he vowed that his government would safeguard women's rights, but he ducked questions about Islamic traditionalists' demands for a stronger role in the future government, noting that senior clerics already are involved in all aspects of Iraqi life. He stressed repeatedly that the country's security was paramount on his agenda. Allawi has long said he planned to reconstitute five divisions of the old Iraqi Army. On Thursday, he said he hoped to welcome armed tribesman and former members of militias into the ranks. He also said he would reintegrate 40 to 55 percent of the old Iraqi Army, which was dissolved in a May 2003 proclamation by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, into a new armed forces dedicated to protecting the country from foreign encroachments. Earlier in the day, Allawi issued a statement condemning saboteurs who attack Iraq's energy infrastructure. He said more than 130 attacks on the oil industry over the last seven months had cost Iraqis $200 million in revenues. Iraq's persistent security woes have hampered reconstruction efforts. The capital still gets electricity for only about 12 hours a day. Power and fuel shortages have frayed nerves and soured many on the U.S.-led occupation. Attacks on foreigners working to rebuild Iraq have scared off contractors and sent the costs of doing business in Iraq spiraling higher. (source: San Francisco Chronicle)
