Posted on 09/26/2003 6:00:02 AM PDT by Brian S
Fri September 26, 2003 08:00 AM ET By Fiona O'Brien and Rosalind Russell
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Grieving Iraqis paid their last respects on Friday to an assassinated U.S.-appointed politician, as the United Nations pulled more staff out of the country following two suicide bomb attacks.
The murder of Akila al-Hashemi, who died on Thursday five days after assassins opened fire on her car, and the U.N. pullout were fresh setbacks to U.S. efforts to speed the process of building a credible Iraqi government and win more international help to police and rebuild the country.
In the town of Baquba, a hotbed of guerrilla activity northeast of Baghdad, a mortar attack on a market killed eight Iraqis on Thursday evening, the U.S. military said. A spokesman said no U.S. troops were wounded.
More than 15 people were injured and locals said the death toll would have been higher if the attack happened earlier in the day when the market was busier.
"We don't know who was behind this crime -- maybe people who want to destabilize Iraq or people who were trying to target the Americans," Khaled Youssef said. "But in the end, it was Iraqis who were killed."
In the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a U.S. Army vehicle killed one soldier and wounded two, the military said. The attack brought to 80 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by guerrillas since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
DEADLY ATTACKS
Bush is trying to win agreement for a greater U.N. role in Iraq in return for more international help in terms of troops and cash.
But efforts in New York to agree a wider mandate for the United Nations in Iraq are in stark contrast to events on the ground in Baghdad, where many international staff are leaving.
The United Nations ordered a further pullout of staff from Iraq on Thursday. A U.N. spokeswoman in Baghdad said around a third of the 42 international staff remaining in the capital would leave over the next few days.
"There have been two attacks and we cannot go on like this," Veronique Taveau said. "But the U.N. is not pulling out of Iraq. We are committed to the work we are doing here."
She said the evacuation would not affect the day-to-day running of U.N. humanitarian programs.
U.N. sources said Secretary-General Kofi Annan's security aides had advocated a total withdrawal but Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed concern about the impact such a move would have on Iraq. The outcome was a compromise.
A suicide car bomber blew himself up near the U.N. compound on Monday, also killing a security guard, a month after a truck bomb attack on the building killed 22 people including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello.
In other attacks in Baghdad this week, a roadside bomb intended for a U.S. convoy killed an Iraqi on Wednesday, and a bomb attack on Thursday on a hotel housing journalists from the U.S. television network NBC killed a Somali guard.
GOVERNING COUNCIL VOWS TO PERSEVERE
Diplomats and prominent Iraqis held a memorial ceremony on Friday for Hashemi, who had been due to be part of the Iraqi delegation to the U.N. General Assembly this week.
Members of her family carried her coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, into the Governing Council offices, chanting the Islamic declaration of faith. Colleagues said her death would not weaken the council's determination.
"Those who thought that the death of Dr Akila would disrupt the march toward the dawn of democracy and freedom will be disappointed," council member Iyad Allawi said.
The body was later sent to Hashemi's house before being taken to the holy city of Najaf for burial.
Despite the spiraling violence and the pullout of many U.N. staff, Powell said there was a convergence of views in the Security Council on a new resolution on rebuilding Iraq.
Initially, the Security Council had been split with some countries calling for a swifter transition to Iraqi self-rule, while Washington said this could worsen the chaos.
The Governing Council has said it hopes a new constitution could be ready by the middle of next year, but the body has yet to win widespread trust among Iraqis.
I would prefer that he hit the delete key.
Non sequitur alert! How is this bad for the U.S.?!?
I wish every last one of the bastards would quit, from Kofi on down. Then one of the last great bastions of Bolshevism would be gone forever, and America would have one less international terrorist organization to worry about.
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