Home>News Center>World
         
 

Iraq assessments: Insurgents not giving up
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-18 20:14

The recapture of Fallujah has not broken the insurgents' will to fight and may not pay the big dividend U.S. planners had hoped — to improve security enough to hold national elections in Sunni Muslim areas of central Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi assessments.

Insurgents gather on the street in the northern Iraq city of Mosul November 18, 2004. Rebels attacked the provincial governor's office in Iraq's third city of Mosul on Thursday, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding four more, the U.S. military said. [reuters]
Instead, the battle for control of the Sunni city 40 miles west of Baghdad has sharpened divisions among Iraq's major ethnic and religious groups, fueled anti-American sentiment and stoked the 18-month-old Sunni insurgency.


Those grim assessments, expressed privately by some U.S. military officials and by some private experts on Iraq, raise doubts as to whether the January election will produce a government with sufficient legitimacy, especially in the eyes of the country's powerful Sunni Muslim minority.


Even before the battle for Fallujah began Nov. 8, U.S. planners understood that capturing the city, where U.S. troops are still fighting pockets of resistance, was only the first step in building enough security to allow the election to take place in the volatile Sunni areas north and west of Baghdad.


The next steps include solidifying Iraqi government control, repairing the substantial battle damage and winning the trust of the people of Fallujah.


That requires, among other things, an effective Iraqi police and security force.


Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, said during a visit to Iraq this week that the Fallujah offensive was a major blow to the insurgents, and he said the only way the U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies can be defeated is if they lose their will.


"But we are also under no illusions. We know that the enemy will continue to fight," he told the Pentagon's internal news service.


Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith said the military now had to keep the insurgency from regrouping.


"The issue for us at Central Command is make sure we keep the pressure on the terrorists and not allow another safe haven to occur, and we're going to do that," Smith said.


The Associated Press has learned that U.S. military officials in Iraq concluded the population of Anbar province, which includes Fallujah, Ramadi, has been intimidated by the guerrillas and that the provincial security forces are nonfunctioning and their ranks infiltrated by guerrilla sympathizers.


Before the attack on Fallujah began last week, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi formally dissolved the city's police and security forces, which had fallen under control of the radical Sunni clerics who ran the city.


Calls have already emerged for the January vote to be postponed until security improves. Militant Sunni Arab clerics have called for a boycott to protest the Fallujah attack.


However, Iraq's electoral commission is having none of that.


"The election will take place on schedule under laws which cannot be changed because there is no legislative authority to do so," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said Wednesday.


The clerical leadership of the majority Shiite community is also deeply opposed to any delay in the election. The country's premier Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has been demanding elections since the early months of the U.S. military occupation.


"I don't understand how delaying elections will improve the security situation," Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite scientist who is close to al-Sistani. "I believe that the most important reason for the deteriorating security situation in the country is the postponement of elections."

However, pressure for a postponement is likely to increase if the wave of car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and armed attacks cannot be curbed as the ballot approaches.

Since the Fallujah offensive, there has already been a marked spike in insurgent attacks across other Sunni areas, notably Mosul where about 1,200 U.S. troops launched an operation this week to reclaim police stations abandoned after insurgent raids. U.S. officials say only 20 percent of the city's 5,000 police had returned to duty as of Wednesday.

"Holding the elections has become more difficult after the military operations in Fallujah and other places," said Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman, a former member of the Iraqi Governing Council. "It is not impossible to hold the election, but will it be credible, free and clean?"

Despite the risks, holding the January vote on schedule is important for several reasons. It would produce a representative government to replace Allawi's U.S.-backed administration — seen by many Iraqis as an unwanted legacy of the American occupation.

Voters will choose a 275-member legislature that will draft a permanent constitution. The document will resolve such key issues as whether Iraq adopts a federal system — a major demand of the country's large Kurdish minority — or remains a centralized state favored by the Arab majority.

Failure to resolve the issue satisfactorily to all could result in civil strife or even the breakup of the Iraqi state. The Shiite Arab majority expects the vote to formalize its domination over Iraq after decades of oppression by the Sunni Arabs. The Kurds, about 15-20 percent of the population, want to preserve their system of self-rule in their northern homeland.

"I will cast my vote even if I have to crawl to the polling station," said Malik Nouri, 34, a Shiite who owns a pastry business in Baghdad. "I will go even if bombs go off in front of my house."

Many Sunni Arabs, however, fear the vote will strip away the prestige and power they had enjoyed for centuries. Many Sunnis accuse their Shiite and Kurdish rivals of acquiescing the American occupation for political gains.

Despite boycott calls, many secular-minded Sunnis are expected to vote in the election. But a low voter turnout, especially in Sunni strongholds now plagued by insurgency, would be worse than having no election at all, according to Peter Khalil, a national security research fellow at the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution.

"You need at least 70 percent of the voters to take place to accord legitimacy to the next government. If not, it will fuel the insurgency and give it a new political dimension," said Khalil, who served for nearly a year with the U.S.-led occupation authorities in Iraq.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Ministries found to misuse funds

 

   
 

Mystery illness outbreak in HK identified

 

   
 

Global forum highlights food safety

 

   
 

Housing prices surge in first 10 months

 

   
 

Oil line leak causes serious pollution

 

   
 

Warner sues karaoke hall for infringement

 

   
  Chirac, Blair strive for unity after Iraq
   
  Iran said trying to fit missiles for nukes
   
  Palestinians to host western diplomats
   
  UN Security Council in Africa to push Sudan peace
   
  Possible new case of mad cow disease found
   
  Israel apologizes after tank kills 3 Egyptian police
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Fallujah subdued, but battles continue
   
Shooting in Iraq mosque angers muslims
   
Report: US marine kills wounded Iraqi
   
General praises speed of Fallujah success
   
Fierce Combat Kills at Least 27
   
Body of western woman found in Fallujah
   
US says troops occupy all of Fallujah
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧洲精品免费一区二区三区| 亚洲无限乱码一二三四区| 亚洲精品国产综合久久一线| 久久精品中文闷骚内射| juy031白木优子中文字幕| 麻豆久久婷婷综合五月国产| 精品国偷自产在线视频| 欧美亚洲日本另类人人澡gogo| 成人免费在线观看网站| 国产精品亚洲精品日韩已方| 另类图片亚洲校园小说区| 亚洲制服丝袜一区二区三区| 中文字幕123区| 欧美jizz40性欧美| 狠狠色伊人亚洲综合成人| 日本精品a在线| 国产精品自产拍在线观看花钱看 | 美女和男人免费网站视频| 99精品在线看| 鲁一鲁一鲁一鲁一曰综合网| 狠狠干2020| 成年网址网站在线观看| 国产精品igao视频| 偷拍区小说区图片区另类呻吟| 久久伊人免费视频| 2021国产精品露脸在线| 精品久久久久香蕉网| 日本护士xxxx视频| 国产精品久久久久久久久久免费| 免费国产小视频| 中文字幕无码不卡一区二区三区| 国产成人精品怡红院| 美女被免费喷白浆视频| 欧美人与zoxxxx另类| 奇米影视亚洲春色| 天海翼被施爆两个小时| 国产午夜精品久久久久免费视| 亚洲国产精品欧美日韩一区二区 | 欧美视频在线免费播放| 性色欲网站人妻丰满中文久久不卡| 天天躁日日躁狠狠躁欧美老妇|