Security laws aim to crush Iraqi insurgents
As the plan was announced, masked gunmen battled Iraqi forces in central Baghdad, and at least four people were killed. Mortars landed near a residence used by Allawi, and Iraqi police also defused a massive car bomb elsewhere in the capital.
The new laws give Allawi the right to impose curfews, to conduct search operations and detain individuals with weapons, once he receives unanimous approval from the Presidential Council.
They also give him the right to assign governors, including military leaders, in specific areas, and they empower him to freeze the assets of suspects and monitor their communications.
Allawi signed the law earlier in the day, officials said.
"The law ... is really designed to protect lives in Iraq, whether these lives are Iraqis or friends of Iraq who are operating here in Iraq," Allawi said.
"We will use the law ... whenever it is necessary to defeat our enemies."
The Presidential Council is made up of a president, who is a Sunni Arab, and two vice-presidents a Kurd and a Shi'ite. Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds are the three main groups in Iraq. Allawi is a Shi'ite.
"The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they are in danger from evil forces, from gangs of terrorists," said Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin, who compared the new law to the US Patriot Act. Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said the premier would need warrants from an Iraqi court for each step and said martial law could only be declared for 60 days or for the duration of the specific violence, whichever was shorter.
"We realise this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees. We have tried to guarantee justice and also to guarantee human rights." That danger was underscored by the violence yesterday. Insurgents waged a running gun battle with Iraqi forces in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were hurt, witnesses said. US soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents.
Health Ministry official Saad al-Amili said fourpeople were killed and 20 injured in the battle. US armoured personnel carriers moved to the scene of the fighting on the deserted Haifa Street as two Apache helicopters hovered overhead. Interior Ministry officials said the helicopters fired on nearby buildings.
In another Baghdad neighbourhood, four mortar rounds shook an area near the headquarters of Allawi's political party, wounding six people, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks on a stretch of Zeitoun Street in central Baghdad also hit near a home used by Allawi.
Iraqi police also defused a car loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives that was parked near the al-Iman mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col Adnan Hussein.
The US military announced that three Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed while on duty in western Iraq.
Two died in action on Monday in Anbar province, while a third died of wounds later on Monday.
Another four Marines were killed Tuesday in the province during security and stability operations.
