Home>News Center>World
             
     

    Iraq may give amnesty to insurgents
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2004-07-04 14:18

    Iraq's prime minister, less than a week after taking power, may offer amnesty to insurgents and could extend it to those who killed American troops in an apparent bid to lure Saddam Hussein loyalists from their campaign of violence.

    A spokesman for Iyad Allawi went as far as to suggest attacks on US troops over the past year were legitimate acts of resistance — a sign of the new government's desire to distance itself from the 14-month US-led occupation of Iraq.

    "If he (a guerrilla) was in opposition against the Americans, that will be justified because it was an occupation force," the spokesman, Georges Sada, said Saturday. "We will give them freedom."

    Choking the brutal 14-month insurgency is the No. 1 priority of Allawi's government, and the prime minister is expected to make a number of security-related policy announcements in coming days. Besides the amnesty plan, those include the resurrection of Iraq's death penalty and an emergency law that sets curfews in Iraq's trouble spots, Sada said.

    The amnesty plan is still in the works. A full pardon for insurgents who killed Americans is not a certainty, Sada said. Allawi's main goal is to "start everything from new" by giving a second chance to rebel fighters who hand in their weapons and throw their weight behind the new government.

    "There is still heavy discussion about this," said Sada, interviewed in the prime minister's office. He said the US Embassy has encouraged Allawi to try creative solutions to end the insurgency as long as they don't infringe on human rights.

    Analysts say Allawi's plan is critical to ending a grinding rebellion in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland that has shown no sign of bowing to the US military. Especially worrying for Allawi's government is recent evidence that shows secular fighters — ex-members of Saddam's Baath Party — forming an alliance with radical Islamists.

    Some type of amnesty is needed to coax Iraqi nationalist guerrillas to the government's side, while separating them from fighters using terrorist-style bombings, experts say.

    "It's hard to imagine any way forward other than co-opting people who had previously fought against the United States, either as part of Saddam's army, part of the insurgency, or both," said Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Allawi needs to split the opposition into two groups: those he can co-opt and those he must confront."

    Amnesties can be tricky. If the offer is too strict and few rebels accept, it will have little effect. But too lenient a deal could destabilize the government by bringing criminals and radicals into the government, said James Dobbins, a veteran diplomat who served as the Bush administration's special envoy for Afghanistan.

    Amnesties have succeeded in many countries. Militants once considered outlaws landed top jobs in government. In Kenya, South Africa and Cyprus they even became president. Some landed the Nobel Peace Prize.

    "Not to push the point too far, but George Washington led the American insurgency and went on to become our first president," Dobbins said. "If Allawi and his government can't assume the nationalist mantle in the eyes of the Iraqi population, they can't prevail against the insurgency."

    Dobbins said he believed Washington would not block Allawi's pardoning of Iraqi insurgents, noting that there is plenty of precedent for such reconciliation. The United States never sought to prosecute surrendering Germans, Koreans or Vietnamese who had killed US soldiers. He said he doubted the United States intends to prosecute the many Afghan and Iraqi prisoners it holds as enemy combatants.

    Besides, there is wide acknowledgment that US occupation chief L. Paul Bremer's disbanding of Iraq's army and security services was a mistake, and forced people into fighting the occupation for money and revenge, Sada said.

    "Some people were cheated, some were misled. Some did this because they had no salaries, no food, no bread," Sada said.

    There appears to be little controversy about pardoning rebels who were not actual killers of US or Iraqi security forces. Sada said it was "no problem" to amnesty rebel financiers and those storing heavy weapons in their homes.

    It remains to be seen whether many hard-core Iraqi insurgents, numbering around 5,000 according to a recent U.S. estimate, will take Allawi's expected offer. One former army officer who described himself as a "helper to the resistance" in Fallujah said Allawi's plan would find little traction because his government is seen as illegitimate.

    "I do not want to return to the new Iraqi army and be put in a situation where I have to open fire on my countrymen in order to defend the Americans," said Mohammed al-Janabi, a former colonel in the disbanded Iraqi army.

    "The goal of this offer is to divide the resistance. They want to isolate the honest patriots from the Islamic Mujahedeen — in other words divide and rule — and this is not going to happen," al-Janabi said. "As for Allawi and (President Ghazi) al-Yawer, they are taking orders from the new American ambassador after the departure of their former master, Bremer. They are helping the Americans steal our oil and they will be punished."

    Such holdouts, Sada warned, face the full force of the US-backed Iraqi security forces.

    "He should expect to be killed. Those who continue fighting the government can expect anything ranging from prison to the death penalty," he said.

    Last week, Allawi publicly warned Baathists to stop backing the insurgency.

    One former colonel in Saddam Hussein's secret police said he and other former Baathists would welcome any amnesty. The man, now a Mosul taxi driver who asked that he simply be called Abu Hani, said the Islamist fighters would be unlikely to accept Allawi's offer.

    "In my opinion, Allawi and al-Yawer are working to salvage the country from the ordeal. They are going in the right direction," Abu Hani said. "It seems that the new rulers of Iraq want to fix some of the mistakes committed earlier, such as the disbanding of the Iraqi army and the security bodies."



     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    Summer harvest helps stabilize consumer prices

     

       
     

    Iraq militants claim beheading US Marine

     

       
     

    China-US trade relations face challenges

     

       
     

    Typhoon Mindulle kills 15 in Taiwan

     

       
     

    China opposes foreign interference in HK

     

       
     

    Ministry battles telecom price wars

     

       
      Yemen urges rebels to surrender as death toll rises
       
      Iraq militants claim beheading US Marine
       
      Japan's ruling party unlikely to gain upper house majority
       
      US general: I met Israeli interrogator in Iraq
       
      IAEA chief to visit Israel
       
      Israel army kills two near Nablus
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Saboteurs strike Iraqi oil pipeline
       
    Iraq militants claim beheading US Marine
       
    Attack kills 5 Iraqi troops near Baghdad
       
    Rockets hit Iraq hotels, Poland hails arms success
      News Talk  
      Will Saddam Hussein get a fair trial?  
    Advertisement
             
    人妻中文字系列无码专区| 中文无码久久精品| 波多野结衣中文字幕免费视频| 亚洲AV综合色区无码另类小说| 亚洲国产精品无码中文字| 久久精品中文无码资源站| 最近的2019免费中文字幕| 日本久久久精品中文字幕| 中文日韩亚洲欧美字幕| 久久精品国产亚洲AV无码娇色| 中文字幕亚洲一区二区va在线| 人妻中文无码久热丝袜| mm1313亚洲国产精品无码试看| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线咪咕| 中文字幕第3页| 亚洲一区二区三区在线观看精品中文 | 亚洲一区中文字幕久久| 西西4444www大胆无码| 97人妻无码一区二区精品免费| 亚洲精品无码mv在线观看网站| 久久亚洲中文字幕精品一区四 | 伊人热人久久中文字幕| 熟妇人妻中文a∨无码| 无码专区国产无套粉嫩白浆内射| 人妻系列无码专区无码中出| 亚洲大尺度无码无码专区| 日韩人妻无码精品专区| 在线中文字幕精品第5页| 中文字幕亚洲综合久久菠萝蜜| 线中文在线资源 官网| 欧美日韩中文字幕在线观看| 日韩中文字幕在线观看| 中文字幕欧美日韩在线不卡| 中文字幕在线资源| 中文字幕在线观看国产| 亚洲一区AV无码少妇电影☆| 东京热av人妻无码专区| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区在线观看 | 2014AV天堂无码一区 | 无码国产精品一区二区免费16| 亚洲av永久无码精品表情包|