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Sunnis Won't Defeat Charter, Iraqi Vice President Asserts
Protesters, including one with a picture of Saddam Hussein, rally against Iraq's proposed constitution in the ousted president's home area of Tikrit. Rallies elsewhere demanded the government open more voter registration centers.
(By Bassim Daham -- Associated Press)
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On Monday, hundreds on Sunni Arabs marched in Saddam Hussein's home area of Tikrit, some carrying pictures of the toppled leader. Others clutched posters with slogans declaring, "No to the Zionist-American-Iranian constitution!" according to news agencies.
In the heavily Sunni western city of Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, hundreds rallied to demand that the government open more voter registration centers. With a Sept. 1 deadline looming to register, only 19 of the 28 centers in Anbar have opened, although the national election commission said Monday that it would extend registration there until Sept. 7.
Ali Omran, a 41-year-old demonstrator in Ramadi, said people in his village had to drive more than two hours through U.S. military checkpoints to sign their names to voter rolls. "We consider this a conspiracy," Omran said. "They want to strangle us by not allowing us to participate in the referendum, to make it easy for the Kurds and the Shiites to run their draft of the constitution."
"My family will take part in the referendum even if we have to spend the night in the street by the voting center," said another demonstrator, Mariam Mohammed, a 32-year-old university instructor.
In Baghdad, Reuters demanded that the U.S. military release one of its Iraqi cameraman wounded in the same shooting that killed a soundman working for the news agency on Sunday in west Baghdad. Iraqi police said U.S. soldiers shot the journalists, according to Reuters.
The agency quoted a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone, as saying U.S. forces were still investigating.
In Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. Army helicopter made a forced landing Monday night under hostile fire, the U.S. military said. One soldier was killed and another injured. Residents of Tal Afar reached by telephone said the helicopter came down about 6:30 p.m. in the southwestern part of the city, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi leader of Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq promised a series of attacks timed to the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in October. The leader, Abu Qudama, said a current lull in bombings was only "the calm before the storm."
Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.
