Thousands of Iraqis protest in support of Sistani

BAGHDAD, February 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq 's Shiite leaders reacted angrily to top U.S. civilian administrator Paul Bremer's threat to wield his veto powers should the U.S.-appointed interim Governing Council choose Islam as the main basis for the country’s new temporary constitution.

"Islam is the source of law, and so it should be in a Muslim majority country," said Abdel Mahdi al-Karabali, who represents Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, 110 kilometers south of Baghdad.

"The Iraqi people only can veto the legislation and nobody has the right to interfere in our constitution," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, February 18.

Head of the main Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in the holy city of An-Najaf also warned against U.S. intervention in the drafting of the country's legal code.

"I think that if one seeks to impose a solution other than what the Iraqi population wants, it would spark a crisis and none of the parties want this to happen," Sheikh Sadreddin al-Kubbanji said.

Bremer said Monday, February 16, he will not allow Islam to be the main source of law in Iraq, warning that he could veto the country's temporary constitution if it did not fit the "American vision" of democracy.

"Our position is clear, and the text that is in there now is as I say. It can't become law until I sign it," Washington’s strong man said during a visit to a women's center in Karbala.

Hamid has proposed making Shari’ah the "principal basis" of legislation

However, his spokesman tried to water down the rift, stressing that the United States was not challenging the principle of Islam as one of the sources for the country's new legal code.

"What Ambassador Bremer said yesterday in Karbala ... was Islam should be a source of inspiration for the interim administrative law, but not be the only source," Dan Senor said.

He argued that Bremer's thinking was already enshrined in the November 15 agreement between the U.S.-led occupation authority and the Governing Council, which called for the end of the occupation on June 30.

The agreement maps out the basic principles to be contained in the fundamental law, "including a recognition of the Islamic identity of the majority of Iraqis", while protecting the religious freedom of all citizens, Senor said.

The Governing Council is charged with writing the temporary constitution, or fundamental law, that will govern Iraq until national elections are held in 2005.

Mohsen Abdel Hamid, the current president of the Iraqi interim council and a member of a committee drafting the interim constitution, has proposed making Shari’ah the "principal basis" of legislation.

However, a spokesman for U.S. ally Ahmad Chalabi, a Governing Council member, argued that most of the Council member did not favor an Islamic constitution.

"We do not want an Islamic state. We want a state that respects Islam. All of the political parties and distinguished members of the Governing Council, even those outside the council -- if I understand correctly Ayatollah Sistani -- want a state that respects Islam, but not an Islamic state," Entifadh Qanbar said.

Bremer’s remarks were not the first indications of Washington’s opposition to an Islamic state in occupied Iraq.

Last April, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ruled out an Iran-style religious government in Iraq.

U.S. Senators had also voiced misgivings about the possibility of setting up an Islamic regime in post-Saddam Iraq.