Violence Leaves Iraqis in Despair: "Iraqi political leaders expressed anger and despair Tuesday over the inability of U.S. authorities to stem the relentless violence gripping Iraq as they paid tribute to the slain president of the country's Governing Council.
The assassination of Izzedin Salim in a suicide car bombing Monday appeared to have crystallized months of frustration with the U.S.-led occupation across the Iraqi political spectrum. In interviews after Salim's funeral, his colleagues on the council said the violence had imperiled efforts to form an interim government and, by extension, the future stability of Iraq with just six weeks before the nominal end of the occupation.
'If something is not done about this security situation, there will be no transfer of power,' said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the council.
Othman, who is generally pro-American, described the assassination as only the most extreme example of the lawlessness that has grown in the year since President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was driven from power. 'Never in Iraq has it been like this -- never, even under Saddam,' he said. 'People are killed, kidnapped and assaulted; children are taken away; women are raped. Nobody is afraid of any punishment.' "
- posted by geoff @ #