Blair in desperate appeal to rebel MPs:

Prime Minister Tony Blair today called on opposition parties and rebel Labour MPs to draw back from forcing the Government to ditch plans to give police the power to hold terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days.
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Four killed in Baghdad suicide bombing Independent Online
Baghdad - A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed four American soldiers, the military said.
Four GIs Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack San Francisco Chronicle
Iraqis battle near border with Syria London Free Press
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IRAQ: Witnesses Describe Ballot Fraud in Nineveh
Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON - Reports compiled by the U.S. military in Iraq from its informants and by NGOs from independent Iraqi sources provide the first detailed picture of a campaign of ballot fraud by Kurdish authorities in Nineveh province, the key to the outcome of the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30888

Another Lawyer in Hussein's Trial Is Slain New York Times
Gunmen today shot two lawyers representing co-defendants of Saddam Hussein, killing one and seriously wounding the other, the Interior Ministry said. The lawyers were driving in the Adel neighborhood in western Baghdad when their vehicle came under fire, a ministry spokesman said. The victims were identified as Adel Muhammad Abbas and Thamir Mahmood Hadi. Mr. Abbas, who died, was representing a former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan. Mr. Hadi has been representing Mr. Hussein's half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a former head of the Mukhabarat secret police directorate. A panel of five judges is trying Mr. Hussein, Mr. Ramadan, Mr. Tikriti and five others in the torture and killing of 148 men and teenage boys after an assassination attempt against Mr. Hussein in 1982 in Dujail, a Shiite town near Baghdad. The trial, which opened on Oct. 19, has been adjourned until Nov. 28. The proceedings are the first of what may be as many as dozens of trials for the former ruler and his top associates. The attack today was the second on lawyers involved in the proceedings since the trial started. On Oct. 20, armed men seized the lawyer Sadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office. His body was found about an hour later with two bullet wounds to the head. Mr. Janabi had been shown on television presenting arguments on behalf of his client, Awad Hamed al-Bander, the former head of the Revolutionary Court under Mr. Hussein. After that killing, defense lawyers demanded that the Iraqi government provide them with 15 bodyguards each. It was not immediately clear what kind of protection Mr. Abbas and Mr. Hadi had today. Some Western human rights advocates have already used the issue of lawyer safety to reopen the issue of whether the trial should be held outside Iraq. In other violence today, the Interior Ministry reported that five unidentified bodies had found handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head near a water recycling project. In Disyala Province, two Iraqi police were killed by gunmen in separate attacks here, and three Iraqi army recruits and an officer were killed by a roadside bomb. Attacks by insurgents often single out Iraqi forces and officials allied with the predominantly American occupation forces that provide the security infrastructure for the fledgling Iraqi government. But thousands of Iraqi civilians have also been the targets of suicide bombers and insurgents. The militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq posted video on the Internet today that appeared to show the bodies of two American marines killed in a military helicopter that the group said it had shot down, Reuters reported. Several men were shown gathering around the burning helicopter, pulling out two bodies in military fatigues and collecting communications equipment and debris strewn around the wreckage, it said. The Marine Corps acknowledged last week that one of its helicopters, an AH-1W Super Cobra gunship, had gone down near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, the capital of rebellious Anbar Province. In Washington, the Pentagon announced planned troop rotations that would leave a force of at least 92,000 in Iraq through 2008, though officials emphasized that the numbers could change. The single deadliest suicide bombing against an American target in more than four months took place on Monday, when a suicide bomber plowed a car loaded with explosives into an American checkpoint in Baghdad. The bomber struck around 5 p.m. on a road in southern Baghdad, according to Spec. Ricardo Branch of the Third Infantry Division, the Army unit that patrols the capital. The military declined to say precisely where the attack took place or how the bomber had managed to penetrate the security barriers that often shield such locations. The four American deaths surpassed the six in an attack on an American convoy in June by a suicide car bomber in Falluja, a rebellious city west of Baghdad. Before then, the most lethal suicide attack on American forces came in the spring of 2004, when a car bomber killed eight soldiers, also in southern Baghdad. Suicide car bombings against American soldiers are rare, and the attack underscored the increasing skills of insurgents here. Military commanders acknowledge that insurgents are now staging more skillful attacks, but they also say that troops have responded to the changes. Of the more than 2,000 American deaths in Iraq to date, most have been caused by soldiers' vehicles hitting remotely detonated roadside bombs. Suicide bombers have tended to strike so-called soft targets, like mosques and markets, where security is virtually nonexistent. The attack came as American marines, assisted by Iraqi troops, fought insurgents for a third day in a major sweep in the town of Husayba, an insurgent gateway into Iraq on the Syrian border. Thousands of troops scoured about 350 city blocks, killing numerous fighters and punching nearly to the eastern edge of town. Since May, the American command has conducted at least 10 sweeps of towns along the Euphrates River in Anbar Province, a heavily Sunni Arab area that has been an entry point for foreign militants in Iraq. This summer, the military began setting up a permanent presence in some of the towns, and spokesmen have said they will do the same in Husayba. One marine has been killed in the operation, officials said. In three days of battles in Husayba, American and Iraqi troops have killed 36 people believed to be insurgents, the military said. It said it had received no reports of civilian casualties. Almost all Husayba's estimated 20,000 residents had fled in the face of the American assault. Al Qaeda in Iraq threatened to stage major attacks should the offensive continue. It was unclear whether the attack on the American checkpoint was part of that pledge.
Car bomber kills 4 GIs at checkpoint San Francisco Chronicle
Another Saddam Trial Lawyer Killed CBS 5
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Another Saddam Co-Defendant's Lawyer Slain

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A lawyer for a co-defendant in Saddam Hussein's trial was shot to death and another lawyer was wounded Tuesday in Baghdad, a member of the defense team said. Adel Al-Zubeidi, who was representing former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was the second defense attorney to be killed in less than a month.

Al-Zubeidi was killed and another lawyer was wounded in an ambush in the Adil neighborhood, according to lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi.

On Oct. 20, Saadoun al-Janabi, was abducted from his office by 10 masked gunmen, a day after he attended the first session of the trial, acting as the lawyer for co-defendant Awad al-Bandar.

Al-Janabi's body, with two bullet shots to the head, was found hours later on a sidewalk near Fardous Mosque in the eastern neighborhood of Ur in Baghdad, near the site of his office.

A police general said the attack occurred when three gunmen in a speeding car pulled alongside the lawyers' vehicle and opened fire. The general insisted on anonymity because the sensitive case was in the early stage of investigation.

Al-Zubeidi also represented Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, a former Baath party official.

Saddam and seven others have been charged with the 1982 killings of Shiite villagers in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad, following an assassination attempt. The trial opened Oct. 19 and was suspended until Nov. 28 to allow the defense time to prepare its case.

The assassination of a second lawyer associated with the trial is likely to raise new questions about whether this country can conduct such a sensitive prosecution in the midst of insurgency and domestic turmoil.

Following al-Janabi's death, members of the defense team said they had suspended further dealings with the special court until their safety is guaranteed. Al-Obeidi said that the entire defense team had rejected an offer of guards from the Interior Ministry, pointing to frequent Sunni Arab accusations that ministry forces or Shiite militias linked to the government have killed members of the minority that was dominant under Saddam.

He said then that they were talking with U.S. officials about getting protection from American troops. But a later defense team statement said that it would seek United Nations protection for the Iraqi lawyers because they do not trust either the U.S. military or the Iraqi government to ensure their safety.

Saddam's defense team, which includes some 1,500 lawyers who act as advisers, is led by Khalid al-Dulaimi and Abdel Haq Alani, an Iraqi-born lawyer based in Britain. Alani is the top legal consultant to Saddam's daughter, Raghad, and believed to be backbone of defense team.


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Bush will give a third speech on Iraq on Monday.

Sunnis Say Iraq Vote Was Fraudulent

Updated 10:17 AM ET December 20, 2005
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pu...8ek2138a&src=ap

By JASON STRAZIUSO

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Sunni Arabs alleged Tuesday that last week's parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province, and they said if the irregularities are not corrected, new balloting must be held in Iraq's largest electoral district.

An electoral commission official said that while more than 1,000 complaints from the Dec. 15 vote had been received and were being investigated, only 20 were "very serious," and he didn't expect them to change the overall result, which will be announced in early January.

(sounds similar to Bush propaganda - ignore the naysayers)

The United Iraqi Alliance _ a Shiite party _ won about 59 percent of the vote, according to returns from 89 percent of ballot boxes counted in Baghdad province. The Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front received about 19 percent, and the Iraqi National List headed by Ayad Allawi, a secular-minded Shiite, got about 14 percent.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, a coalition of three major Sunni groups, rejected those results, warning of "grave repercussions on security and political stability" if the mistakes were not corrected.

The Sunni officials concentrated their protests on results from Baghdad province, the biggest electoral district.

"It was obvious to us that the forgery and the falsification have been taking place even before the opening of the ballot boxes," it said.

The front said it considered the results "a falsification of the will of the people."

If no measures are taken, "we will demand that the elections be held again in Baghdad," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the alliance. "If this demand is not met, then we will resort to other measures."

But a senior member of the United Iraqi Alliance, Jawad al-Maliki, responded that the Sunnis needed to respect the outcome. "Democracy means accepting the opinion of the majority," he said.

[Wow! no right of the minority! just like in Bush's world]

Electoral commission official Farid Ayar said more than 1,000 complaints had been received, describing 20 as "very serious." He would not elaborate on them, but added that although they could cancel the votes cast at a particular polling station, they were not expected to alter the overall election results significantly.

"We are studying all of them, we have two or three committees studying them. They are serious and they may change the results, but I don't think the complaints will make a big change in the overall result," he said.

There were more than 33,000 polling stations in Iraq 18 provinces, and "if we have a serious violation at four polling stations that is not many voters," Ayar said.

Final results won't be ready before early January, instead of late December, in order to investigate the complaints, he said.

Ayar, who pledged the commission "will present anything, we can't hide anything from the people," also said he saw nothing unusual in the Sunni allegations.

"We hear various statements by the political alliances, coalitions, parties and entities. This is a normal thing in all elections. There are those who win and those who don't win," he said. "We respect all opinions, but these are the numbers we have. We deal with numbers. We have no intention of forging anything or adding to anything."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said there had been 20 "red" _ or serious _ complaints as of Monday that could affect the outcome.

"Final results will not be announced until those red complaints are looked at," he said.

Also lodging a protest was Ibrahim al-Janabi, an official of Allawi's Iraqi National List.

"The elections commission is not independent. It is influenced by political parties and by the government," he said. "We announce that we have reservations about the counting of the ballots in the commission. We demand that the process be transparent."

Preliminary returns showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shiite coalition that dominates the current government.

The results for the 275-member parliament from 11 provinces showed the United Iraqi Alliance winning strong majorities in Baghdad and largely Shiite southern provinces.

Kurdish parties were overwhelmingly ahead in their three northern provinces, while results from one of the four predominantly Sunni provinces, Salahuddin, showed the Sunnis winning an overwhelming majority.

Early vote tallies suggested disappointing results for a secular party led by Allawi, a former prime minister and a U.S. favorite who hoped to bridge the often violent divide that has emerged between followers of rival branches of Islam since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

As expected, religious groups, both Shiite and Sunni, were leading in many areas _ an indication that Iraqis may have grown more religious or conservative.

Still, the United Iraqi Alliance was unlikely to win the two-thirds majority, or at least 184 seats, needed to avoid a coalition with other parties.

A senior official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main groups in the alliance, said it was expecting to get about 130 seats.

The alliance is headed by cleric Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most powerful figures.

Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said a likely outcome of the political process will be a Kurdish-Shiite alliance with "token" Sunni participation.

"Having power is one thing but tolerating not having power is going to make or break these elections," he said.

U.S. officials hope a coalition government involving Sunni Arabs will weaken a Sunni-led insurgency. Sunnis, a minority group favored under Saddam, turned out in large numbers after boycotting earlier elections.

In new reports of violence, a joint Iraqi-American patrol on the outskirts of Fallujah found the bodies of 14 people, some of whom were handcuffed and appeared to have been tortured, said Dr. Mohammed Hameed of the Fallujah hospital.

A driver for the Jordanian Embassy, was kidnapped while driving to work, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit said.

Mahmoud Suleiman Saidat, a Jordanian, was "kidnapped by 15 masked men near his residence" in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Sadiya, al-Bakhit told parliament. He said Jordan was "seriously considering" moving its embassy in Baghdad to either Fallujah or to inside the Green Zone, the high security area inside Baghdad.

In other developments:

_ Two police officers were shot to death by gunmen in Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, and one officer was slain in the capital, police said.

_ Gunmen in the southern town of Buhriz, a former Saddam stronghold about 35 miles north of Baghdad, opened fire on a car late Monday, killing four women and wounding three women and two children, police said.

_ Attackers in southern Baghdad shot to death a member of the Badr organization, the former military wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, police Capt. Taleb Thamer said.

_ Assailants in Baghdad attacked two convoys of trucks carrying goods for the U.S. military, setting fire to several of them, police and reporters at the scene said.

_ Ukraine began the final withdrawal of its remaining 876 troops Tuesday. The government began calling home troops in March. President Viktor Yushchenko made a pullout from Iraq one of his campaign promises.

___

Associated Press writers Mariam Fam, Hamid Ahmed and Elena Becatoros contributed to this report from Baghdad. Jamal Halaby contributed from Amman, Jordan.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.