Nation & world briefing Oregon Daily Emerald -Tuesday, April 22,2003 - 3
Iraqi Shiites push for Islamic republic
ioa KODDerson
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
KARBALA, Iraq — In Shiite Is
lam’s holiest city, a seemingly un
stoppable movement is afoot to
turn postwar Iraq into an Islamic
republic resembling the one that
has ruled neighboring Iran for the
past 24 years, much to Washing
ton’s displeasure.
Newly liberated Iraqi Shiites,
who have gathered this week in
Karbala by the millions for an im
portant pilgrimage, say there can
be no turning back from the
course they have chosen to estab
lish a new Islamic republic of Iraq.
They describe the new republic
as a place where Islamic law, or
sharia, would be strictly enforced.
Women, whether Muslim or Chris
tian, would be urged to wear a
head-to-toe cloak known as an
abaya. 1 here would be democracy
but also a socialist-style economic
system based on equal distribution
of wealth.
A supreme Islamic council,
known as the Hawza al-Ilmiyya,
would have to approve everything
from garbage collection to home
land security. In fact, the supreme
council already is doing so, Shiite
clerics say. noting that Iraqi hospi
tals, mosques and public buildings
already are being guarded by
armed men appointed under
Hawza authority.
If Washington thought it had
problems on its hands with the
government of former leader Sad
dam Hussein, it has yet to contend
with 14 million Iraqi Shiites whose
aspirations for self-styled gover
nance have been foiled for 35
years by Hussein’s harsh dictatori
al rule. Now that Hussein has been
ousted, they say, there will be no
turning back, regardless of what
Washington wants.
Iraqis appear oblivious to the
fact that an American, retired lieu
tenant general Jay Garner, arrived
on Monday to take up the post of
civilian administrator for Iraq.
They describe the idea of an
American running Iraqi affairs as
ludicrous and impossible.
“ff I could choose a government,
it would be the Ilawza,” said Abbas
al-Jabouri, 24, a mechanics stu
dent from Baghdad. “We are all
soldiers for the Ilawza. We will do
as they command.” A man behind
him declared that Jabouri spoke
for all of them, and the crowd
shouted in agreement.
“We will never accept a govern
ment imposed from outside. It
must be a government elected
from inside by the Iraqi people.
God will, if America doesn’t inter
fere, we will have an Islamic
democracy,” said Shiite cleric
Sayyed Naona al-Hussein.
The United States is welcomed
to assist in the formation of this
new system, the Shiites say, but it
will be a government of Iraqis’
choosing, and once it is formed,
U.S. troops will no longer be wel
comed in their country. If the
troops don’t leave, Shiites warn,
there will be confrontation on a
massive scale.
“It’s up to them. It depends on
what the Americans have in mind.
Did they come to liberate Iraq or
occupy it?” said Naji Karim, a pil
grim who arrived in Karbala on
Monday morning after a three-day
walk from Baghdad.
Although Shiites are in the mi
nority across the Muslim world,
they comprise about 60 percent of
Iraq’s population. Nevertheless,
they have been ruled for the past
35 years by Sunni Muslims loyal
to Hussein, a fact that has been a
longtime source of tension not
only internally but also with Shi
ite-ruled Iran.
“The Americans absolutely
must consult the Hawza” before
attempting to organize a govern
ment,” Jabouri said. “There is no
government without the Hawza.
The Hawza is and always has been
our government.”
© 2003, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
LKA says common chemical may harm people
Seth Borenstein
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — A common in
dustrial chemical used in making
Teflon, Gore-Tex and hundreds of
other products seems to cause
deaths, birth defects and develop
mental problems in rats and could
harm people, federal officials said
April 14.
In an unprecedented move, the
Environmental Protection Agency
announced that it is intensifying a
study of the common chemical —
perfluorooctanoic acid, known as
PFOA—to see how much risk it pos
es and what should be done about it.
PFOA helps give consumer
products protection from fire,
stains and water.
Products containing PFOA in
clude nonstick cookware and pro
tective finishes on carpets and
clothing. Other applications are
scattered throughout the aerospace,
construction, automobile, chemical
processing, electronics and textile
industries, the EPA said.
PFOA is found in Americans’
blood in low levels, according to
three studies. It stays in human
blood for more than four years.
Even so, many scientific uncer
tainties remain, and it is prema
ture for people to worry or stop us
ing everyday products containing
the chemical, said Stephen John
son, EPA’s assistant administrator
for toxic substances.
One major uncertainty: The
EPA doesn’t know how PFOA gets
into people. People don’t eat PFOA
products, Johnson said.
“The EPA has not determined
whether PFOA (is) an unreasonable
risk to the public,” Johnson said.
The EPA is looking into two
PFOA issues. First, some products
such as Teflon are made in a
process using PFOA but don’t con
tain PFOA in their composition;
even so, they might pose risks.
Other products, including stain
and grease repellents, contain
chemicals called fluorinated
telomers. Technically these are
not PFOA, but over time they
break down into PFOA.
PFOA has been studied several
times, starting in 1961, according
to environmental groups, but it
was a 2002 rat study by the chemi
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cal Industry that prompted the
EPA to act. A 61-page EPA “pre
liminary risk assessment” links
PFOA to rat pup deaths and delays
in the sexual maturity and devel
opment of young rats whose moth
ers were exposed.
DuPont, the only large U.S. com
pany using PFOA in its manufac
turing processes, insists that its
products are safe. DuPont argues
that the data suggesting otherwise
are based on extremely large dos
es given to rats, and there is no
comparable human exposure.
“There’s no known human health
effects with PFOA,” said Robert W.
Rickard, director of the DuPont
Haskell Laboratory for Health and
Environmental Studies.
In connection with Monday’s ac
tion, DuPont and other companies
agreed to dramatically increase
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company-sponsored research of
PFOA health effects. But the Envi
ronmental Working Group, an ac
tivist group that does scientific re
search, said the EPA isn’t acting
fast enough.
“We give them 110 percent credit
for starting this process,” the
group’s senior scientist, Kris Thay
er, said. “We think the risk picture
is worse than EPA is saying today.”
Thayer argued that some studies
— included in an early version of
the EPA’s risk analysis but absent
from Monday’s document — link
PFOA to prostate and testicular
cancer in men.
EPA pollution program chief
Charles Auer acknowledged that
studies do link PFOA to cancer but
said they need further examina
tion and aren’t the chief source of
government concern.
Thayer said it’s not hard to fig
ure out how PFOA gets into the
human bloodstream.
“You are eating these products
because they are used in food
packaging,” Thayer said. “They’re
also used in fabric protection and
leather production, so there’s
dermal contamination through
the skin.”
The Environmental Working
Group sent a letter to EPA Adminis
trator Christine Whitman last week
accusing DuPont of hiding a 1981
study that linked PFOA to health
problems in babies. DuPont vigorous
ly denies the charge. Rickard said the
environmental group misinterpreted
the data. The EPA is investigating,
Johnson said.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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