[Ezzedine Salim], a soft-spoken independent Shiite Muslim politician, had held the rotating presidency for two weeks before a bomber drove to one of the two entrances routinely used by council members to enter the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. The attacker detonated his car as Salim was about to enter the zone to attend a council meeting, killing seven other civilians and injuring at least five.

"He was always opposed both to sectarianism and to nationalism," said Walid Shahib Hilli, general manager of the Iraqi Dawa Party office, who knew Salim well. After Salim had spent a short time in Kuwait, [Saddam Hussein]'s secret service, the Mukhabarat, pursued him and he fled again, this time to Tehran. He also changed his name to Ezzedine Salim, to make it harder for his enemies to track him.

Assassination in Iraq (includes map of Iraq); CREDIT: Los Angeles Times; Ezzedine Salim; ON GUARD: A U.S. soldier at the site of the suicide car bombing in Baghdad that killed Iraqi Governing Council President Ezzedine Salim and seven other civilians.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Ramzi Haidar Pool photo