Some Iraqis believe the emergency measures target the anti-occupation resistance

By Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, July 9 (IslamOnline.net) – Iraqis were divided over the "National Safety Defense Law", passed by the US-picked Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

While some regarded the new law as a necessity to confront security challenges and dangers threatening Iraq, others thought the law would target Iraqi resistance that launch daily attacks against the US occupation troops.

A third section of Iraqis believe that the law focuses on the armed operations that target the US troops while totally ignores the safety and security of Iraqis through neglecting the Iraqi borders issue that represents the principal cause for the insecurity status in Iraq.

Allawi has Wednesday July 7, passed the law, by virtue of which he granted himself exceptional powers including the imposition of curfews, issuance of arrest warrants, dissolution of associations and restriction the freedom of movement.

Based on the law, the Prime Minister can issue arrest and inspection warrants and impose restrictions on the freedom of movement of those suspected of committing crimes.

Such measures can only be applied temporarily and in specific parts of Iraq and require the approval of the ministerial cabinet and the head of state.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin has said the law is similar to the Patriot Act, imposed by the United States after the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York , as Iraq faces growing waves of attacks mainly targeting police stations.

Required

"I think we are all in dire need of such a law. For more than a year, we've been living in chaos due to the lack of harsh laws to be applied by the Iraqi authorities," Yasser Tabe', an Iraqi translator, told Quds Press Agency Thursday July 8.

" Iraq has turned into a horrible country that teems with dangers. Several Iraqis die every day due to assassination processes or at the hands of the gangsters who are looming freely in different parts of the country," he added.

On the other hand, Shehab Ahmed, a journalist, said, "I think the National Defense Law will provide the appropriate coverage for the government to undermine the Iraqi resistance on behalf of the US troops.

"The main purpose of the law is to target Iraqi resistance. It is only designed to protect the US occupation troops."

"Where will emergency laws be applied?" Shehab wonders, saying, "The law will be applied in the areas suffering from tension. Such areas are known in Iraq . They are: Mosul , Baquba, Samara, Begie, Fallujah, Anbar and Abu Ghraib as well as parts of the capital Baghdad , Najaf and Karbala ."

"The law ignores real security Iraqis need. The law disregarded how to remedy the phenomenon of gangs threatening Iraqis day and night and the premeditated negligence of the issue of borders," he reiterated.

Head of the Human Rights Watch in Baghdad Haneya Al-Mufti said that legal counseling provided to detainees and prisoners is within the legal framework of the law.

"One of such dangers is represented in the possibility of arresting an individual without an arrest warrant," she said, adding, 'We need guarantees that there will be no exceptional fields concerning the basic rights of suspects."

Foggy

"The law seems foggy in several articles and the powers granted to the Prime Minister render him the actual authority. The security cause in Iraq is not merely a matter of regions resisting occupation or mortars being exploded. Rather, Iraq has been an open yard and to dominate it requires measures to be taken by the government," Mahmoud Mohamed Ali, a teacher in a secondary school in Dialli town, said.

"The law completely ignores the Iraqi border issue. Reports have proven that most operations that targeted civilians and policemen were planned by foreign bodies," he added.

Contradictory

In statements to IslamOnline.net, a large number of Iraqi citizens rejected the law though.

"I think there are two basic points that can be debated; the first is that the mere fact of passing the law contradicts with the government policy of setting up community organizations and hence the sovereignty of democracy and freedom. The second is that restriction of freedoms recalls to mind the former regime of Saddam Hussein," Eng. Manal Mahmud El-Samaraai said.

"I do not think such a law is a proper solution, as it levels accusations against all Iraqi citizens," Abu Taha, a businessman, said.

"This law will do injustice to the Iraqi people. The executioner will be Iraqi in addition to the US executioner who forms the most important element of the whole picture," Loai Hazem, a UN employee, said.

"This is a very cruel decision that may in form seem in favor of the Iraqi people but in content it is actually a marshal law," Mohamed Sobhi, a secondary school teacher, said.