At least seven rockets were fired into the U.S.-led coalition’s headquarters Sunday as Iraqi Governing Council members signaled they were ready to sign the interim constitution as early as Monday.
Only one injury was reported in the attack, in which at least five of the rockets hit Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The attack came hours after two of the Iraqi Governing Council members who balked at signing the transitional constitution last week said they would sign the document Monday.
The planned signing was delayed at the last minute Friday after at least five Shiite council members said they would not sign the constitution before consulting further with Shiite leaders. The holdouts were told by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani that the constitution gave too much power to the Kurdish and Sunni minorities.
Al-Sistani objected to language in the interim constitution that would have effectively given the Kurdish and Sunni populations the ability to veto the permanent constitution. Al-Sistani, who has been a thorn in the side of the occupying authority, is influential among Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq’s population.
At least three of the Governing Council holdouts met al-Sistani over the weekend in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
“Al-Sistani has reservations, but it will not constitute an obstacle,” said council member Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, according to The Associated Press. “It will be signed as it was agreed upon before the Governing Council members.”
Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, who was one of the holdouts Friday, said the wording of the document would be unchanged. He added that Chalabi still believes the clause in question could be a problem. But Qanbar said he expects the document to be signed Monday.
“It needed to be addressed,” he said. “It has been addressed, and that is the best that can be done at this time.”
Speaking on the Sunday morning news programs, Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, said he is optimistic that the constitution would be signed Monday but remained cautious.
“A number of people who had been out of town have not yet come back, and I’m sure they will want to talk among themselves and talk to other members of the Governing Council,” Bremer said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’ll have to see how that goes tomorrow.”
The steps toward democratic rule in Iraq came amid insurgent attacks and a crackdown by the coalition.
On Sunday, about 500 U.S. soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters and looking for militant suspects raided the Baghdad area’s biggest dairy processing plant. Lt. Col. Tim Ryan told The Associated Press that four people were arrested.
In Mosul, in northern Iraq, police said insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a police station, killing two civilians and wounding two officers.
But the attack that seized the most attention Sunday was against Baghdad’s Green Zone, the high-security area used by coalition forces.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a U.S. military spokesman, said the rockets were launched from a Toyota Land Cruiser parked outside the concrete barriers of the military compound. An American military contractor suffered minor injuries and the attack caused little damage to the hotel, Kimmitt said.
The spokesman said the sport-utility vehicle used in the attack caught fire from the back blast of one of the launched rockets, and an attacker fled from the SUV after the fire erupted. But Iraqi police officers interviewed at the scene said they saw no one in the vehicle when it caught fire and speculated that the attack was done by remote control.
Hashem Ibrahim, one of the Iraqi officers at the scene, said police noticed the truck stopped in an area where only military and police vehicles are allowed about five minutes before the rockets were launched.
“Someone went to check with the military if it was one of their vehicles, and then there was suddenly explosions,” Ibrahim said.
The sound of the rocket explosions echoed through much of central Baghdad, sirens blared, and residents said they could see the flames and smoke from miles away. The rockets ignited a blaze at the former Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AP reported.
Military officials and coalition staff members in the convention center in the Green Zone evacuated to a basement bomb shelter.
“We heard them [the explosions] very, very clearly,” said Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the coalition.
One of the U.S. military officials investigating the attack speculated that it could have been a response to the news from the Governing Council.
The convention center is where Monday’s expected constitution signing is to take place.
“I imagine there are some people who are trying to break apart what the Iraqi people are trying to achieve,” said Lt. Col. Randy Lane of the 1st Armored Division.
Younadem Kana, an Assyrian Christian member of the Governing Council, said the attacks would not deter him or other members.
“I don’t think there will be any problems,” he said. “Even if there are, we must do our work for the people of Iraq.”
