13 Killed in Attack on Potential Iraqi Prime Minister

Hakim and all of the party officials survived the attack without any injuries. The victims of the attack were guards and workers. The Shiite leader accused Ba’ath supporters of trying to create denominational discrimination in the country with the bomb laden car placed front of the area where his home and office are located. Al Hakim urges his supporters not to retaliate, saying, "The only thing these people know is terror. If we had wanted to respond, we would have already responded. We opened our arms to a pluralistic society." The former president of IIDYK and Hakim’s older brother, Ayetullah Muhammad Bagir Al-Hakim, died in a bomb attack last year. Iran has condemned the attempt to assassinate Hakim.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni party in Iraq, has withdrawn from the elections claiming the provisions could not be achieved.

Henry Kissinger has said that allowing ethnic groups to quarrel with each other to set up their own governments instead of establishing "Shiite Theocracy" in Iraq would be better following the elections. Kissinger said on a program aired by CNN, "If it reaches that point (Shiite theocratic government), it means we have no interest in holding Iraq as a unit. Therefore, instead of insisting on theocracy in Iraq, we can allow all ethnic groups quarreling with each other to set up their own government."