US/IRAQ: Iraq's US administrator suggested yesterday he would block any move by Iraqi leaders to make Islamic law the main source of legislation in the interim constitution, a move women's groups fear would threaten their rights.
Meanwhile, roadside bombs killed two more American soldiers and a child was killed in a school yard grenade blast. Four other children were injured. They apparently triggered the explosive while playing, Iraqi police said. The US military also said that an American civilian from a Christian religious group was shot dead in a weekend ambush south of Baghdad.
During a visit to a women's centre in Karbala, administrator Mr Paul Bremer said the current draft of the interim constitution, due to take effect at the end of this month, would make Islam the state religion and "a source of inspiration for the law" - but not the main source.
However, Mr Mohsen Abdel-Hamid, president of the Iraqi Governing Council and a Sunni Muslim hardliner, has proposed making Islamic law the "principal basis" of legislation. Iraqi women's groups fear that could cost them the rights they hold under Iraq's long-time secular system, especially in such areas as divorce, child support and inheritance.
Mr Bremer was asked what would happen if Iraqi leaders wrote into the interim charter that Islamic sharia law was the principal basis of legislation. "Our position is clear," he replied. "It can't be law until I sign it."
Mr Bremer must sign all measures passed by the 25-member council before they can become law. Iraq's powerful Shia clergy, however, wants the interim constitution to be approved by an elected legislature. Under US plans, a permanent constitution would not be drawn up and voted on by the Iraqi people until 2005.
Under most interpretations of Islamic law, women's rights to seek divorce are strictly limited and they receive only half the inheritance of men. Islamic law also allows for polygamy and often permits marriage of girls at a younger age than secular law.
Earlier this month, 45 members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter to President Bush urging him to preserve women's rights in Iraq. US leverage with the Iraqis will decline, however, after the coalition returns sovereignty to an Iraqi administration at the end of June. The US also hopes to hand over more responsibility for internal security to US-trained Iraqi forces, thereby reducing American casualties as the November presidential election approaches.
In the latest attacks, an American soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a roadside bombing in Baqouba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad. One of the wounded was critically injured, the military said.
Two Iraqis were arrested, one with a mobile phone that may have been used to detonate the bomb. The other fatal bombing occurred in the centre of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another.
The latest deaths bring to 540 the number of US service members who have died since the US launched the Iraq war in March. Most have died since Mr Bush declared an end to active combat last May.
In the ambush on Saturday, gunmen opened fire on a taxi carrying Americans belonging to a religious group from the ancient city of Babylon. A number of Christian humanitarian organisations are working in Iraq.
Attacks against the occupation force have continued unabated despite the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 13th.