Iraq council asks U.N. to endorse self-rule plan
U.S. soldiers ambushed Sunday identified
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The U.N. Security Council is being asked by the Iraqi Governing Council for an endorsement of its timetable for a provisional Iraqi government.
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Questions over the deaths of two soldiers in Mosul. CNN's Jane Arraf reports
Some feel Saddam Hussein is more dangerous on the run than when he was in power.
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The Iraqi Governing Council has asked the United Nations Security Council to pass a new resolution recognizing the U.S.-proposed timetable to set up a new provisional Iraqi government "no later than the end of June."
In a letter dated Sunday, the council's president, Jalal Talabani, said that general elections for a constitutional convention, which would draft a permanent constitution, would take place by March 15, 2005.
Elections for an Iraqi government would take place once the Iraqi people had ratified the constitution "prior to the end of 2005."
Under the transition plan, a provisional Iraqi government would take over until elections can be held.
Talibani said that a provisional legislative body would be selected the end of May and the provisional government would be in place the next month.
Once the provisional government is in place, allowing Iraq to be self-ruled, the Coalition Provisional Authority and the governing council would be dissolved.
A U.N. Security Council resolution passed last month gave the council until December 15 to establish a timetable and a plan for drafting the new constitution and to hold democratic elections.
Autopsies: Soldiers' throats were not slashed
There was new violence in Iraq on Monday, with an improvised explosive device and small-arms attack on a convoy that wounded one U.S. soldier in the northern city of Mosul, not far from the Turkish border..
Meanwhile, U.S. Army officials denied earlier reports that two soldiers killed in Mosul this weekend had their throats slashed. An autopsy revealed both died of gunshot wounds and found no other wounds or slash marks on their bodies, officials said.
A coalition spokesman said the soldiers, traveling in a civilian vehicle, stopped when the car in front of them stopped, and were shot through the front windshield by attackers who jumped out of that car.
The bodies were then dragged from the vehicle and looted of personal effects by a crowd of Iraqis, military sources acknowledged.
Bystanders gave detailed descriptions of a swarm of children and adults stripping the bodies of everything they could, including watches and a hand grenade.
The Pentagon identified the victims as Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Wilson, 45, of Thomson, Georgia, and Spc. Rel A. Ravago IV, 21, of Glendale, California, both assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's 502nd Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
President Bush -- wearing an Army jacket Monday during a pep talk to soldiers at Fort Carson, Colorado -- said U.S. forces will hunt down "anyone who seeks to harm our soldiers."
"We have only one option," he said. "We must continue to take the fight to the enemy" in Iraq and on other fronts in the war against terrorism.
Al Arabiya shut down in Baghdad
Also Monday, the Iraqi Governing Council ordered the Arabic-language television network al Arabiya to shut down its operation in Baghdad, sending officials from the Interior Ministry to the network's headquarters to "seize their uplink and transmission equipment until further notice."
"This is in response to their broadcasting the full Saddam Hussein audiotape" released November 16, according to a spokesman for Jalal Talabani, the council's president.
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Iraqi policemen leave Al-Arabiya's Baghdad bureau carrying a satellite dish connector.
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On the tape, a voice purported to be Saddam's called on Iraqis to resist coalition forces and said Iraqis "should elect their leaders from those who had served them for several years, even if they did some mistakes." The taped voice also said Iraqis should kill members of the governing council.
A few hours after Talabani's announcement, al Arabiya news director Salah Negm, speaking from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, told CNN that the network remains in Iraq.
"We were not kicked out of Iraq," he said. "We were asked to stop covering for a certain period of time. We are in the process of clarifying that decision.
"What we have done is not more than broadcasting what we think is important news."
He denied that his organization favors Saddam, and suggested that perhaps the translators used by the coalition are presenting a distorted view of what the network broadcasts.
"What we are doing in Iraq is actually covering the news in Iraq, and showing all the points of view that are prevailing in Iraq now. We are trying to be balanced."
He added, "Our jobs as journalist is not to ignore the existence of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden or whoever. We can bury our heads in the sand and say, 'They don't exist.' But, actually, they exist. People want to know the news."
Qubad Talabani, the council president's son and spokesman, told CNN that the council does not consider Al-Arabiya's reporting "an element of the free press," but rather a "tool" for inciting violence and acts of terrorism.
Al-Arabiya chief: Others also played tape
Wehad Yacoub, al Arabiya's Baghdad bureau chief, pointed out that al Arabiya was not the only network to broadcast the purported Saddam tape and said the Baghdad bureau had nothing to do with it.
"This last tape was not from Baghdad. It was broadcast from Dubai," he said.
Al Arabiya is owned by Middle East News (MEN), based in Dubai.
Al Arabiya reported that Iraqi police had entered the network's offices unannounced and ordered it to shut down or face fines and jail time for the workers.
Al Arabiya reported that it was told the council would reconsider the ban if its employees were to sign a statement pledging not to promote violence.
Aktham Suleiman, Baghdad correspondent for the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera, said "the issue is of no direct concern" to that network.
Al-Jazeera has also been accused by the governing council and the coalition of slanting coverage.
Shortly before the police came to al Arabiya's offices, Jalal Talabani cautioned journalists not to engage in "incitement," saying the governing council would go after any media outlet -- "even the BBC, if they encourage incitement." Qubad Talabani added CNN to the nonexempt list.
CNN correspondents Jane Arraf, Walter Rodgers, Barbara Starr and Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
