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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (182474)	2/12/2004 11:02:40 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577019

UN holds Iraq Shia cleric talks The ayatollah represents the conservative mainstream of Iraqi Shias A United Nations team has met the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia Muslims to discuss the possibility of holding early general elections. After two hours of talks with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the delegation head Lakhdar Brahimi said they agreed on the need for direct elections. But, crucially, Mr Brahimi did not specify a time for holding them. Ayatollah Sistani has led criticism of US plans to transfer power to an unelected authority in Iraq by 30 June. The US says conditions are not right for elections - a position underlined by the fact that these talks follow one of the bloodiest 24 hours in Iraq since the war ended. 'Insistent' Mr Brahimi met Ayatollah Sistani at his heavily-guarded house in the holy city of Najaf. "[The ayatollah] is insistent on holding the elections and we are with him on this 100%," the envoy told Reuters news agency. "These elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions, so that it would bring the results which [the ayatollah] wants and the people of Iraq and the UN," he added. These elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions Lakhdar Brahimi UN envoy Two suicide bombings - on Tuesday and Wednesday - killed nearly 100 Iraqis applying to join the country's new police force and army. US officials in Iraq have accused Islamic militants of timing their "sensational" attacks to coincide with the UN visit - with the aim of demonstrating that the conditions do not exist to hold elections. The US has warned that the closer the June handover deadline approaches, the more attacks are likely to be launched by insurgents. The US administration has released the text of a letter said to be written by an Islamic extremist with al-Qaeda links, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which calls for attacks to ignite a civil war between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslim communities. According to the 11-page letter, the discovery of which was announced on Monday after a raid in Baghdad, the "only solution" to defeating the coalition was to begin a civil war. The US has doubled the bounty for Mr Zarqawi's capture to $10m. Poles apart If Mr Brahim dislikes both the US and Sistani formulas for transfering sovereignty, the BBC's Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says the UN representative's task will be to come up with an alternative. Holding early elections - as demanded by Ayatollah Sistani - would pose a set of logistical problems, our analyst says. Washington wants regional meetings to select a new government, which in turn is to draft a constitution - with elections postponed until at least the end of 2005. The new attacks represent a change of tactics by militants But many find this complicated and confusing, and regard a selected government as a poor substitute for an elected one, our analyst says. Ayatollah Sistani wants an interim constitution to be approved by an elected parliament. He has refused to meet US officials, including the top American administrator, Paul Bremer. Shias make up about 60% of the Iraqi population and correspondents say they want direct elections to reflect their numerical supremacy. But the top Algerian diplomat may find it hard to come up with a solution that satisfies everyone, says our analyst, especially as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan plans to announce his decision on the issue by the end of February.

To: tejek who wrote (182474)	2/12/2004 11:17:51 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1577019

U.S. Commander Unhurt in Mideast Attack Commander of All U.S. Forces in Middle East Escapes Injury in Brazen Attack Near Fallujah The Associated Press FALLUJAH, Iraq Feb. 12 — Insurgents launched a brazen attack Thursday on an Iraqi civil defense outpost visited by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. Abizaid and his party escaped injury in the gun battle. Just moments after a convoy carrying Abizaid and his party pulled inside the cinderblock walls at the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps in this city west of Baghdad, an explosion rang out. Seconds later, two more explosions were heard near the rear of the compound, and U.S. soldiers responded with a barrage of rifle and machine gun fire. Several attackers fired three rocket-propelled grenades, and another pelted the party with small arms fire from a nearby mosque. The gun battle lasted about six minutes. No U.S. soldiers and no one in Abizaid's party were injured. Residents said one Iraqi was grazed in the leg by a bullet and slightly injured. Abizaid was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. After the gun battle, Abizaid and Swannack canceled plans to walk into the city and instead returned to a U.S. military base near here. A defense official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was likely that the insurgents had been tipped off to the presence of the senior general. However, U.S. officials, briefing reporters at military headquarters in Baghdad, said they were not prepared to make such a link. One noted that rocket attacks in the Fallujah area were relatively common. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said coalition and Iraqi forces "returned fire and pursued the attackers." The mosque was searched later "without result," he said. After Abizaid left in a convoy of Humvee utility vehicles, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment asked members of the Iraqi security force to clear the mosque. But they refused. Abizaid appeared unfazed. Speaking in Arabic to one member of the Iraqi security force after the gunfight, the general asked about the attack and was told, "This is Fallujah. What do you expect." Later, after he returned to the U.S. base, Abizaid told a reporter, "This is an area where there are plenty of former regime elements out there, willing to fight." Abizaid then flew on to Qatar, as scheduled. Abizaid was tapped as Central Command chief after Gen. Tommy Franks retired after the ouster of President Saddam Hussein. EDITOR'S NOTE: AP Military Writer Robert Burns is traveling with Gen. Abizaid in Iraq Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. abcnews.go.com