Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

136 • DEADLY FORCEthe endorsement of Ayatollah al Uzma Ali al Sistani, the most influentialShi’ite religious leader within Iraq. The UIA won the largestplurality of the popular vote, 48.2 percent, and gained 140 of the 275seats in the Iraqi National Assembly. This coalition was headed bythe leader of the al Da’wa Party, Abdul Aziz al Hakim, and al Da’waParty spokesman Ibrahim al Jaafari became the prime minister of thetransitional Iraqi government. Following the ratification of a newIraqi national constitution on 15 October 2005, new legislative electionswere held under a revised electoral system that gave more thanproportional weighting to votes from Sunni and Kurdish areas. In thesubsequent 15 December 2005 election, the UIA won only 130 of the275 National Assembly seats but retained the largest plurality. Withinthe UIA, al Da’wa held 13 seats, SCIRI and its Badr Organizationheld 36 seats, the Sadrists held 29 seats, the Islamic al Da’wa factionheld 12 seats, the Islamic Virtue Party held 15 seats, and allied independentsheld 25 seats. The deputy leader of the al Da’wa Party, Nourial Maliki, became prime minister on 20 May 2006.DEADLY FORCE. Term used among U.S. law enforcement authoritiesto refer to the lawful use of force, including possible maimingor killing, required to constrain lawbreakers or people whose actionspose a threat to the lives, liberty, or property of others. The authorizationto use deadly force is subject to rules of engagement, and everycase of killing or maiming as a result of deadly force is subject toreview to ensure that human life is not taken arbitrarily and that onlythe minimum force necessary is used to achieve the objectives of lawenforcement. Deadly force incidents in which suspects or innocentsare killed arbitrarily or unnecessarily undermine the legitimacy oflaw enforcement efforts and create a climate of public fear and distrustof authority, which in turn undermines the basis of freedom andopenness essential for a democratic society.As examples of deadly force incidents involving avoidable and unnecessarydeaths, some have cited the Philadelphia police’s firebombingof the sectarian-political MOVE group’s headquarters in May 1985that resulted in the deaths of six adults whom the police had soughtto arrest, along with five children, and the destruction of 61 homesthat left 250 people homeless. Other instances of uses of deadly forcethat now appear to have been unnecessary and misguided includethe siege of Randy Weaver’s family at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in Au-