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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (95355)	2/1/2005 3:04:13 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

The Guardian is not trash. I think that email from the American soldier was nice, euphoric and hopeful, but probably not terribly meaningful in the long term. Most of the Sunnis did not vote. There is no more assurance today than before the election that a civil war can be avoided: Iraqi politician warns of civil war if US troops leave Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari, a senior Shiite leader, has warned that a civil war could erupt if US troops leave the country. Mr Jaafari, considered a candidate for the post of prime minister in the government that emerges from Sunday's historic elections, said there were too many dangers for Iraq to set a date on US-led foreign troops leaving. "Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Mr Jaafari told AFP. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave? This could mean the beginning of a civil war." He added: "We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims." Mr Jaafari is head of the Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party), part of the fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance that was supported in the election by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites. Many experts talk of the former exiled opponent of Saddam Hussein as a potential leader of a new government. He said he believed the new government would be better than the current interim administration at running security. "When the multinational force can leave Iraq depends on our readiness to run security. I hope we will be self-sufficient in dealing with this, but when? I have no idea. "And until then, we cannot ask the multinational forces to leave." Mr Jaafari said improving security would be one of the key tasks for the Government that will take shape in coming weeks. "I think the current year must witness a real improvement in security and services," he said. The Vice President said countering insurgents and terrorists was one area where the current interim administration had failed. Mr Jaafari said the new government had to embrace Sunni Muslims even though many parties rejected the elections and the Sunni turnout was low in many areas. "It is true some Sunni powers boycotted the elections, but they did so without killing anyone or threatening anyone. Everybody is welcome and this is democracy. "We cannot fly with one wing. We have to reach out to them and accommodate them," said Mr Jaafari, who added he would be ready to take over from Iyad Allawi as prime minister if asked. "There must be a kind of balance between the three main posts: the president, the prime minister and the head of the parliament. "The next prime minister will probably be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament are a Sunni and a Kurd," respectively. -AFP abc.net.au