The Hindu : International : Violence shadow over Iraq polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004

International

International

Violence shadow over Iraq polls

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, SEPT. 28. As American warplanes intensify bombing of the resistance hubs of Fallujah and the Shia stronghold in Baghdad in preparation for elections, the debate on the merits of holding the polls in January has grown in intensity.

U.S. helicopters overnight continued to raid sections of Sadr City, a Shia working class area on the outskirts of Baghdad. Earlier on Monday, U.S. air raids in this neighbourhood killed five persons and wounded 46. The Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has in the past spearheaded an anti-U.S. armed revolt, has wide support in this area.

No let-up in raids

There has also been no let-up in U.S. air raids in Fallujah, which has a majority Sunni population. At least four persons were killed in the latest U.S. assault overnight, while 10 others were injured during the day.

The U.S. military has maintained that it will persist with using force in order to prepare for the January 2005 elections. "We are going to have to fight our way through elections. And there will be a lot of violence between now and then," the chief U.S. military commander in Iraq, John Abizaid, told a U.S. television network recently. With violence spiralling and sullying the prospects of peaceful nationwide elections, a section of the U.S. administration has begun to advocate that areas where guerilla activity is rampant can be temporarily excluded from the polls. But the proposal has been met with a mixed response in the region.

U.S. move opposed

For instance, King Abdullah of Jordan, a key U.S. ally has publicly rejected this suggestion. In an interview on Tuesday with the French daily Le Figaro, the monarch said that excluding troubled areas from the poll would not only isolate Iraq's Sunnis but also create deeper divisions in the country. Hinting that elections should be postponed, he said, "Only if the situation improved could an election be organised on schedule."

Many among the Arab intelligentsia agree that none of the Iraqi communities should be left out in the electoral exercise. Paul Salem, a West Asia analyst, who heads the Fares Foundation in Beirut told The Hindu that Iraqi elections should include all sections of the Iraqi population, "even if it amounts to taking some risks."

Credibility at stake

He, however, pointed out that it would be a mistake to postpone the polls as even a limited electoral exercise could pave the way for a larger participation in the future.

While there has been an assumption that a majority of Iraq's 60 per cent Shia population would participate in the elections, and ensure its legitimacy, Mr. Al Sadr on Monday sounded the alarm.

Mr. Al Sadr's spokesperson, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Al-Daraji, said the cleric would not participate in the elections so long as the Americans occupied Iraq.

"We as Sadr's movement, will not take part in the elections held under the shadow of occupation," Mr. Al-Daraji said. "Sadr movement will not nominate any candidates".

Analysts point out that with the prospects of Sunnis being excluded, and the Shia followers of Mr. Al Sadr boycotting the polls, the legitimacy of the elections could be called into question.

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