- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands
of sacked Iraqi soldiers swarmed angrily around U.S. headquarters in Baghdad
on Monday, as squabbling tribal leaders told the Americans they could face
war if they did not leave soon.
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- "The entire Iraqi people is a time bomb that will
blow up in the Americans' face if they don't end their occupation,"
tribal chief Riyadh al-Asadi told Reuters after meeting a U.S. official
for talks on the future of Iraq after Saddam Hussein.
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- "The Iraqi people did not fight the Americans during
the war, only Saddam's people did. But if the people decide to fight them
now, they are in big trouble."
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- As tribal leaders met representatives of the U.S-led
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), more than 3,000 sacked troops marched
on the CPA headquarters in a former presidential palace, vowing violence
unless they received compensation. Many said they wanted U.S. and British
forces to leave Iraq.
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- "All of us will become suicide bombers," said
former officer Khairi Jassim. "I will turn my six daughters into bombs
to kill the Americans."
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- Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator for Iraq, dissolved
Saddam's armed forces, several security bodies and the defense and information
ministries last month, firing 400,000 people. Many protesters said they
could no longer feed their families.
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- The protesters dispersed after they were promised talks
on Tuesday to try to resolve their grievances. Bremer told a news conference
he sympathized with their plight and planned job creation schemes, but
would not be swayed by threats.
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- "We're not going to be blackmailed into producing
(job) programs because of threats of terrorism," he said, adding that
the demonstration marked the first time in decades that people had dared
to protest outside the presidential palace.
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- 'STAY UNTIL JOB IS DONE'
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- Responding to the mounting calls to leave, Bremer said:
"We will stay until the job is done and not a day longer."
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- The new United Nations special representative for Iraq,
Sergio Vieira de Mello, arrived in Baghdad to beef up the U.N. role in
rebuilding Iraq.
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- "We have a huge task ahead," he told reporters,
saying the world body would be "an independent partner of the Iraqi
people first and foremost, but partner of the Authority as well."
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- U.S. officials announced at the weekend that the Iraqi
interim administration that will help guide the country until a constitution
is approved and democratic elections held would be appointed by the CPA.
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- Previously, it had been expected a national conference
of Iraqis would select the members of the administration.
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- U.S. officials unveiled the new plan Sunday to leaders
of seven major Iraqi political groups. The groups met Monday to discuss
their response and are due to see Bremer Friday.
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- Hamid al-Bayati of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq said the seven groups still wanted a national conference
to pick a political council.
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- Bremer said the process of setting up an Iraqi interim
administration would involve constant input from Iraqis. He said the process
would take five to six weeks.
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- Food rations were distributed Monday for the first time
since the war, but many Iraqis complained the ration packs did not contain
as much as they had hoped for.
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