Iraqi Officials: U.S. Military Role in Election Crucial
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SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – Iraqi officials told an international conference yesterday that American-led operations to hunt down rebels in the war ravaged country are crucial to providing adequate security for national elections in January.
“The contribution of the multinational force is essential to help secure necessary conditions for voting and to support our security forces in stabilizing the country,” said the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari.
Mr. Zebari addressed representatives of 20 nations, including Iraq’s six neighbors, the European Union, and the Arab League, who came to this Red Sea resort to discuss Iraq’s future.
The two-day conference, which ended yesterday, was also attended by states that had opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq but recognize the need to contribute to its reconstruction.
“We must guarantee that all sectors of the Iraqi electorate have an equal chance to cast their vote – free from intimidation, terror and fear spread by an extreme minority,” Mr. Zebari said of this month’s offensive to root out insurgents in key Iraqi cities.
“The campaign in Fallujah was a difficult decision, taken after extensive negotiations, but the last course of action after all peaceful and political avenues of dialogue had been exhausted.”
The conference rejected calls from France and some Arab states to set a deadline for withdrawing the American-led forces. But the final communique, which was approved unanimously, said pointedly that their mandate was “not open-ended.”
The communique condemned “all acts of terrorism in Iraq,” referring particularly to the kidnappings and assassinations of foreign and Iraqi civilians, aid workers, diplomats, and journalists. It urged the interim government to deal firmly with terrorists, but also to avoid hurting civilians.
Iran and Syria, two loud opponents of the war, attacked the American-led campaign against insurgents. The Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, said while his government condemns terrorism, “we cannot overemphasize the need to refrain from shelling civilians, destroying cities, and killing innocent people.”
The Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, called on foreign troops to leave Iraq “if not before the end of 2005, at least by the end of 2005.”
“As long as Americans and other coalition forces are present in Iraq, there will be enough excuses and pretexts for those who are resisting in Iraq” to continue, Mr. Kharrazi told reporters after the conference.
Earlier, he also condemned insurgent attacks, saying “such acts will help prolong the presence of foreign troops in Iraq.” Mr. Kharrazi added that Iraqis must maintain their own security and “should be supported in developing its national security.” The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said the attempt to achieve peace in Iraq could not be separated from efforts to achieve peace in the Arab-Israeli dispute.
Separately, some 5,000 American Marines, and British, and Iraqi troops launched a new offensive yesterday aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds across a cluster of dusty, small towns south of Baghdad.
The series of raids and house searches was the third large-scale military operation this month aimed at suppressing Iraq’s Sunni Muslim insurgency ahead of crucial elections set for January 30.
The assault aims to stem an increase of violence in an area that has been notorious for months as a danger zone. Car bombings, rocket attacks and ambushes have surged in recent weeks – likely in part due to guerrillas who slipped out of the militant stronghold of Fallujah, according to commanders.
Despite the series of offensives, violence continued unabated. Masked gunmen shot to death a Sunni cleric yesterday in the second such attack against a member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, which has called for a boycott of the national elections.
The cleric, Sheik Ghalib Ali al-Zuhairi, was killed as he left a mosque after dawn prayers in the town of Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. His assassination occurred a day after another prominent Sunni cleric was killed in the northern city of Mosul – Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, who was the brother of the association’s spokesman. It was unclear whether the two attacks were related.
The joint military operation kicked off with early morning raids in the town of Jabella,50 miles south of Baghdad, as Iraqi and American troops, backed by jets and helicopters, swarmed into the region known as the “triangle of death.”
At least 32 suspected insurgents were captured in the morning’s raids, the American military said. In other joint raids conducted in Iskandariyah and Latifiyah, another 45 suspected terrorists were arrested, said Iraqi police Captain Hadi Hatif.