THE Iraqi government announced a package of new security measures yesterday allowing the prime minister to announce martial law in chaotic areas in an effort to put down the insurgency wracking the country.
“The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they are in danger from evil forces, from gangs of terrorists,” said Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin.
The law gives interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, the right, after he receives unanimous approval from the Presidential Council, to assign curfews to specific areas, to conduct cordon and search operations and detain individuals with weapons on them.
It also empowers authorities to freeze the assets of suspects and monitor their communications.
Good. They can do what we can’t politically get away with.
