Iraq Debates Rebel Pardon

The interim Iraqi government, starting its second week on the job, moved ahead Sunday with a plan to offer amnesty to insurgents, a proposal that is already stirring controversy here and in the United States.

The plan, which is still being debated, would offer a reprieve for militants who have been battling U.S. and Iraqi forces. But questions about just how far to go, and whom to exclude from such an amnesty, could be incendiary.

Foremost among those questions is whether to pardon those responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers, Iraqi civilians and members of the country’s new security forces. A spokesman for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said anyone guilty of such attacks “would be considered a criminal.”

But Allawi said Sunday that he was already in negotiations with representatives of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr over a general amnesty for members of his Al Mahdi Army militia. Since April, the militia has battled U.S. troops and Iraqi police in Baghdad and several southern cities.

“It depends really on ... whether they will surrender the weapons or not. Once they do this, they are welcome,” Allawi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Anybody who respects the rule of law and the human rights is welcome to be part of Iraq. Anybody who does not is not clearly welcome.”

The final amnesty proposal, and the balance it strikes between accountability and forgiveness, could help determine whether the new government can blunt the insurgency.

Attacks continued Sunday against both Iraqi security forces and vital oil infrastructure.

Proponents of a broad amnesty argue that former insurgents should get a fresh start now that the occupying coalition has ceded authority to an Iraqi government. This, they say, would be a necessary step toward the re-integration of former Baath Party members and other sidelined groups into Iraqi society -- and an early credibility test for the new government.

But others are loath to see those with blood on their hands go free.

“I think it’s dangerous if we get into compromising, of giving amnesty to people who have attacked American men and women, killed American men and women, been responsible for the insurgency,” said Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition.” But, he said, “I think once you’ve passed sovereignty, I think we have responsibility to live true to that.”

“Ultimately the people of Iraq will have to make peace with each other,” said Feisal Istrabadi, an Iraqi American lawyer who helped write the country’s interim constitution. “I think the government is trying to be creative.”

The question of amnesty illustrates the tightrope Allawi must walk in an effort to bring peace to the country.

Allawi, himself an ex-Baath Party member, recognizes the need to reconcile with Baathists, who were marginalized by the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government. Former Baathist officers are believed to be among the leaders of the insurgency that has hampered U.S. efforts to reconstruct Iraq.

But the new government cannot alienate Shiite and Kurdish populations, which suffered greatly under Hussein and are anxious to see ex-Baathist officials face justice. Iraqis who have lost family members to insurgent violence could also object to a sweeping amnesty.

“There is always a very difficult balance that we have to strike between giving people an opportunity back to re-integrate within society,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih during an interview on CNN, “but at the same time remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces.”

The new government in Baghdad must also pay close attention to the sensibilities of its U.S. patrons, who control the purse strings and provide the bulk of the more than 150,000 foreign troops here.

U.S. officials have said insurgents found to have attacked coalition forces will face charges in Iraqi courts. About 4,000 suspected insurgents will remain in U.S. custody because they are said to represent a continuing security threat.

Georges Sada, a spokesman for Allawi, said Sunday that any amnesty offer would be “a very independent decision” by the new government. “But of course, as friends, we always continue to coordinate and cooperate [with U.S. officials].”

The issue resounded through American morning talk shows Sunday, with many expressing indignation at a potential second chance for killers of U.S. soldiers.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, “ought to be prosecuted for the actions that he’s done and some of the things that he’s caused.”

Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Hatch said he believed an Iraqi amnesty program would target “those who really haven’t done harm, who haven’t killed others, who haven’t committed criminal acts,” instead of “terrorists and others and Baathists and the jihadists, who literally have been killing not only Americans but over 200 Iraqis in the last month.”

One lawmaker, however, said he was open to the idea of a broader amnesty for those guilty of violent attacks.

“I think we’ve got to support those types of decisions of this new Iraqi government. Give them a chance,” Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CNN. “It sort of strikes us as not correct since some of those he’s offering it to have been engaged in the insurgency that might have brought about death or harm to our forces. But give [Allawi] a chance.”

Sada said the amnesty idea was currently being studied by the Justice Ministry, but that any proposed reprieve for insurgents would be dependent on their willingness to give up the fight. “We already have many people willing to hand over their weapons and start fresh,” he said.

However, he said, “If somebody killed a U.S. soldier or an Iraqi soldier, then he would be considered a criminal.”

Some feel that for an amnesty to truly have any meaning, it would have to encompass those who have taken lives. Otherwise, there would be little motivation for insurgents to stop fighting.

“Carving out exceptions defeats the point of an amnesty,” said Istrabadi, the Iraqi American lawyer. “You don’t want to back your opponent in a corner. You have to give them a way out.” Government officials have maintained that the amnesty won’t apply to those guilty of plotting violent attacks. Instead it would be aimed at rank-and-file insurgent foot soldiers.

Sada, Allawi’s spokesman, described the ideal amnesty candidate as “somebody who was an army officer, so he joined the resistance because he needed the money. But didn’t really do anything.”

But Istrabadi warned that offering pardons only to the lowest, least involved insurgents would still leave the upper layers of commanders, planners and paymasters free to continue recruiting and with no reason to end their fight.

The insurgency continued Sunday, as saboteurs ruptured a vital oil pipeline in Hawijat al Fallouja, 50 miles southwest of Baghdad. The pipeline carried crude oil from the northern Kirkuk fields to offshore export terminals in the south. Oil from Kirkuk is usually piped north into Turkey, but frequent sabotage of the northern pipeline had reportedly forced officials to divert it south toward Basra.

Also Sunday, Iraqi National Guardsmen killed an apparent would-be car bomber outside an Iraqi base north of the capital. The attacker ran from his vehicle after being stopped at a checkpoint in the town of Baqubah, site of heavy fighting last week between insurgents and U.S. soldiers. Iraqi troops opened fire, killing the attacker and detonating his explosives. Two bystanders were reportedly killed in the blast.

Times wire services contributed to this report.