BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq unveiled emergency laws Wednesday to fight the enduring insurgency, even as masked gunmen battled Iraqi and American forces in Baghdad. The measures give the government broad powers – including the right to impose limited martial law – but some Iraqis questioned whether they would restore order.
The laws also allow Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to set curfews, send security forces on searches and freeze suspects’ assets and monitor their communications.
Government officials insist built-in checks will protect Iraqis’ rights and prevent the government from backsliding into dictatorship.
That was not much of a concern for some Baghdad residents. “Borrowing Saddam Hussein’s big stick for a short period of time is fine if it’s for the interest of the people,” said pharmacist Salaheddin Hadi.
The laws are the first major step by Allawi’s government to make good on its promise to end the violence that has killed hundreds of Iraqis over the past 15 months. “The law … is really designed to protect lives in Iraq, whether these lives are Iraqis or friends of Iraq,” Allawi said.
Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan announced the measures, saying, “Present conditions in Iraq have reached a stage that is impossible to tolerate.”
Less than a mile away, a gunbattle between Iraqi security forces and insurgents raged for hours in the streets of central Baghdad. Officials said four people were killed and 20 were wounded.
U.S. armored personnel carriers moved to the scene of the fighting on Haifa Street to help the Iraqi forces. Two Apache helicopters hovered overhead.
In the latest in a rash of kidnappings, Al-Jazeera television aired video showing armed men holding a Filipino hostage whom they threatened to kill unless the Philippines withdraws its troops from Iraq within 72 hours.
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