Iraq Approves Security Law Allowing Martial Rule

Earlier drafts of the law would have allowed Allawi to declare a state of emergency with a simple majority vote of his cabinet. Under the final version, such a declaration also needs the support of the president and the two vice presidents. A provision to allow for a nationwide state of emergency was deleted from the law.

Declarations of martial law will be valid for 60 days. Any extension will require the written approval of the prime minister and the president.

The country's top court, the Court of Cassation, will have the power to review emergency declarations and rescind them if it deems necessary. "There will be checks and balances on the prime minister's power," said the senior Iraqi official.

The senior official said Allawi's draft was revised after "wide-ranging consultation" with members of the interim government. Among those who sought changes, according to political sources, were ethnic Kurdish leaders and the country's interim president, Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni Muslim tribal sheik.

The interim government is also preparing an amnesty offer to insurgents but terms of the deal have not been finalized, the senior official said. Preliminary drafts, which would have allowed Iraqis who attacked U.S. troops to claim amnesty, have been revised to exclude anybody who was directly involved in serious acts of violence, the senior official said.

"Anyone accused of killings will not be eligible," the official said.

A second senior government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, described the national security law and the amnesty offer in the same way.

The amnesty, which would provide fighters with a full pardon in exchange for laying down their arms, appears to be aimed more at low-level insurgents than senior leaders. Among those the government hopes to attract are poor Iraqis who have been bankrolled by Baath Party financiers to mount attacks and members of an illegal militia loyal to firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Allawi and top members of his security team hope the offer will bifurcate the insurgency by winning over nationalist Iraqis who have been fighting to evict foreign troops from their country, while isolating foreign Islamic militants who have conducted suicide bomb attacks and assassinations in an attempt to turn Iraq into a battleground for their broader fight against the United States.

"The government feels we need to send a signal that there is an opportunity . . . to drive a wedge between the people committing bad acts," the senior official said.

Although an initial draft of the amnesty offer excluded only those responsible for "killing or raping Iraqis," the exclusions in the new version will be significantly broader, the official said. The change was made after U.S. officials objected, Iraqi political sources said.