Iraq parties seek to postpone election
17 factions call for delay; more violence in Fallujah, Baghdad
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 7:50 p.m. ET Nov. 26, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Seventeen political parties on Friday demanded postponement of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq until the government is capable of securing polling places. The request, by a broad coalition of minority interests in majority Shiite Iraq, came as U.S. Marines were ambushed in Fallujah and a deadly attack hit Baghdad's Green Zone.
The minority parties, mostly Sunni Arab, Kurdish and secular groups, made the call in a manifesto signed at the home of Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi, who said he believed the government was waiting for such a request before seriously addressing the question of whether an election could be held by the end of January.
Parties of the majority Shiite community strongly support holding the elections on time but there is widespread doubt within the minority Sunni community because of insurgent unrest in Sunni regions of central and northern Iraq.
Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars have called on Sunnis to boycott the election to protest this month?s U.S.-led assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
A widespread boycott by the Sunni community could deny the elected parliament and government the legitimacy that U.S. and Iraqi authorities believe is necessary to help bring stability to Iraq and curb the insurgency.
Threats to 'national unity'
Mohsen Abdul Hamid, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that delaying the election was necessary because of ?threats facing national unity, and fears of inciting sectarian tensions if a certain sect was excluded from the elections,? referring to the Sunnis.
The petition called for elections "to be held within six months, allowing for changes in the security situation and completion of necessary arrangements in terms of organization and administration."
Other politicians said that the government was incapable of protecting voters from terror attacks if they tried to cast ballots.
Mohel Hardan al-Duleimi of the Arab Socialist Movement said most people were afraid to vote and that the government?s election commission had failed to educate the public about the election. ?There is strong political polarization with sectarian roots,? al-Duleimi said.
Three interim government ministers attended the meeting, as did representatives from two Kurdish parties: the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
A delegate from the Iraqi National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, attended the meeting but did not sign. No representatives from the country?s two main Shiite parties, Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, were present, underlining the political schism.
Warnings of more violence
Navy Secretary Gordon R. England warned Friday of more violence ahead of elections, but said that U.S. and Iraqi forces will prevail in securing a January vote.
?There will be efforts to disrupt the elections,? England said on a visit to Marines at a camp outside Fallujah. ?The insurgents don?t want the elections to be held and certainly not that they be successful. But we will prevail. We will provide the necessary stability.?
Almost as if to underscore his point, violence continued to erupt in several major cities. In Fallujah, insurgents ambushed U.S. troops as they entered a home during house-to-house searches. Two Marines were killed and three wounded, the U.S. military said Friday.
U.S. troops continue to sweep through Fallujah, which came under a massive week-long U.S.-led assault that began Nov. 8. Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said about 50 percent of the houses in the city have already been cleared.
A British security firm said Friday that four of its employees were killed and 15 others injured in an attack in Baghdad's Green Zone.
And in the northern city of Mosul, U.S. forces found 13 more bodies, the military said Friday, bringing to 35 the number of corpses discovered in the past week in the area shaken by an insurgent uprising.
After the U.S. troops in Fallujah were killed, Sattler said, Marines responded to the ambush with gunfire, killing three insurgents hiding inside.
?We will continue to clear out houses till every one is secure. We?ve taken more and more of their safehouses. They?re running out of places to hide,? he said.
Sattler vowed that the city 40 miles west of Baghdad will be safe in time for next January?s nationwide elections, adding that ?We want every Fallujan to vote from their house.?
British security firm employees killed
Tim J. O'Brien, spokesman for the London-based Global Risk Strategies, said the four security employees were killed Thursday, but declined to say what type of attack had occurred.
"There was an incident yesterday. We lost four people and had 12 to 15 who were injured," he said. "We can't confirm what this incident actually was until we go through internal investigations."
Multiple explosions were heard Thursday and black smoke was seen rising from the fortified Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and Iraqi leadership. The protected area lies on the western bank of the Tigris River.
O'Brien declined to give out identities of the victims, but said that none of those killed were American.
Global Risk Strategies is a London-based firm that provides security in countries including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Grim discoveries in Mosul
In Mosul, the U.S. military said that 11 of the 35 bodies found have been identified as members of the Iraqi security forces, who have been targeted by insurgents. The others have not been identified.
U.S. forces patrolling Mosul and nearby Tal Afar on Thursday morning found nine bodies on the western side of Mosul, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman with Task Force Olympia. Two more bodies were found in the city later in the day.
U.S. and Iraqi troops in Mosul were hit by mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as they were retrieving the bodies, according to Lt. Col. Eric Kurilla of the Army?s 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
The U.S. military spotted at least one team of insurgents firing at them. One Iraqi National Guardsman suffered minor injuries, according to Kurilla.
All the bodies found Thursday have been turned over to the Iraqi authorities, Hastings said.
Mosul, Iraq?s third-largest city, was the site of a mass insurgent uprising in apparent support of Fallujah guerrillas. In the wake of the mass attacks, U.S. and Iraqi forces were sent in to retake parts of the city but insurgents have managed to hit back.
Twenty other bodies have been found there since last Thursday. At least 10 ? nine of them shot execution-style ? belonged to the Iraqi regular army, based at the al-Kisik military base about 31 miles west of Mosul, near Tal Afar. Four of the bodies found were decapitated.
Other developments
* Iraqi forces arrested four insurgents who said they were planning attacks against coalition bases and police stations in the southern city of Basra, officials said Friday, a day after a joint British-Iraqi operation netted three dozen men in the area.
* Near the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen attacked a police station, killing one policeman and injuring three, police said Friday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
17 factions call for delay; more violence in Fallujah, Baghdad
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 7:50 p.m. ET Nov. 26, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Seventeen political parties on Friday demanded postponement of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq until the government is capable of securing polling places. The request, by a broad coalition of minority interests in majority Shiite Iraq, came as U.S. Marines were ambushed in Fallujah and a deadly attack hit Baghdad's Green Zone.
The minority parties, mostly Sunni Arab, Kurdish and secular groups, made the call in a manifesto signed at the home of Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi, who said he believed the government was waiting for such a request before seriously addressing the question of whether an election could be held by the end of January.
Parties of the majority Shiite community strongly support holding the elections on time but there is widespread doubt within the minority Sunni community because of insurgent unrest in Sunni regions of central and northern Iraq.
Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars have called on Sunnis to boycott the election to protest this month?s U.S.-led assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
A widespread boycott by the Sunni community could deny the elected parliament and government the legitimacy that U.S. and Iraqi authorities believe is necessary to help bring stability to Iraq and curb the insurgency.
Threats to 'national unity'
Mohsen Abdul Hamid, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that delaying the election was necessary because of ?threats facing national unity, and fears of inciting sectarian tensions if a certain sect was excluded from the elections,? referring to the Sunnis.
The petition called for elections "to be held within six months, allowing for changes in the security situation and completion of necessary arrangements in terms of organization and administration."
Other politicians said that the government was incapable of protecting voters from terror attacks if they tried to cast ballots.
Mohel Hardan al-Duleimi of the Arab Socialist Movement said most people were afraid to vote and that the government?s election commission had failed to educate the public about the election. ?There is strong political polarization with sectarian roots,? al-Duleimi said.
Three interim government ministers attended the meeting, as did representatives from two Kurdish parties: the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
A delegate from the Iraqi National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, attended the meeting but did not sign. No representatives from the country?s two main Shiite parties, Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, were present, underlining the political schism.
Warnings of more violence
Navy Secretary Gordon R. England warned Friday of more violence ahead of elections, but said that U.S. and Iraqi forces will prevail in securing a January vote.
?There will be efforts to disrupt the elections,? England said on a visit to Marines at a camp outside Fallujah. ?The insurgents don?t want the elections to be held and certainly not that they be successful. But we will prevail. We will provide the necessary stability.?
Almost as if to underscore his point, violence continued to erupt in several major cities. In Fallujah, insurgents ambushed U.S. troops as they entered a home during house-to-house searches. Two Marines were killed and three wounded, the U.S. military said Friday.
U.S. troops continue to sweep through Fallujah, which came under a massive week-long U.S.-led assault that began Nov. 8. Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said about 50 percent of the houses in the city have already been cleared.
A British security firm said Friday that four of its employees were killed and 15 others injured in an attack in Baghdad's Green Zone.
And in the northern city of Mosul, U.S. forces found 13 more bodies, the military said Friday, bringing to 35 the number of corpses discovered in the past week in the area shaken by an insurgent uprising.
After the U.S. troops in Fallujah were killed, Sattler said, Marines responded to the ambush with gunfire, killing three insurgents hiding inside.
?We will continue to clear out houses till every one is secure. We?ve taken more and more of their safehouses. They?re running out of places to hide,? he said.
Sattler vowed that the city 40 miles west of Baghdad will be safe in time for next January?s nationwide elections, adding that ?We want every Fallujan to vote from their house.?
British security firm employees killed
Tim J. O'Brien, spokesman for the London-based Global Risk Strategies, said the four security employees were killed Thursday, but declined to say what type of attack had occurred.
"There was an incident yesterday. We lost four people and had 12 to 15 who were injured," he said. "We can't confirm what this incident actually was until we go through internal investigations."
Multiple explosions were heard Thursday and black smoke was seen rising from the fortified Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and Iraqi leadership. The protected area lies on the western bank of the Tigris River.
O'Brien declined to give out identities of the victims, but said that none of those killed were American.
Global Risk Strategies is a London-based firm that provides security in countries including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Grim discoveries in Mosul
In Mosul, the U.S. military said that 11 of the 35 bodies found have been identified as members of the Iraqi security forces, who have been targeted by insurgents. The others have not been identified.
U.S. forces patrolling Mosul and nearby Tal Afar on Thursday morning found nine bodies on the western side of Mosul, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman with Task Force Olympia. Two more bodies were found in the city later in the day.
U.S. and Iraqi troops in Mosul were hit by mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as they were retrieving the bodies, according to Lt. Col. Eric Kurilla of the Army?s 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
The U.S. military spotted at least one team of insurgents firing at them. One Iraqi National Guardsman suffered minor injuries, according to Kurilla.
All the bodies found Thursday have been turned over to the Iraqi authorities, Hastings said.
Mosul, Iraq?s third-largest city, was the site of a mass insurgent uprising in apparent support of Fallujah guerrillas. In the wake of the mass attacks, U.S. and Iraqi forces were sent in to retake parts of the city but insurgents have managed to hit back.
Twenty other bodies have been found there since last Thursday. At least 10 ? nine of them shot execution-style ? belonged to the Iraqi regular army, based at the al-Kisik military base about 31 miles west of Mosul, near Tal Afar. Four of the bodies found were decapitated.
Other developments
* Iraqi forces arrested four insurgents who said they were planning attacks against coalition bases and police stations in the southern city of Basra, officials said Friday, a day after a joint British-Iraqi operation netted three dozen men in the area.
* Near the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen attacked a police station, killing one policeman and injuring three, police said Friday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
