BAGHDAD -The U.S. ambassador to Iraq acknowledged serious problems ahead of next weekend's election but gave assurance yesterday that great efforts were being made to ensure every Iraqi can vote. In an audiotape posted on the Web, a speaker claiming to be Iraq's most feared terrorist declared fierce war on democracy, raising the stakes in the vote.
Rebels who have vowed to disrupt the balloting blew up a designated polling station near Hillah south of Baghdad and stormed a police station in Ramadi west of the capital, authorities said. A U.S. soldier was killed Saturday on a security patrol in Mosul, the U.S. command said yesterday.
U.S. and Iraqi officials fear more such attacks in the run-up to Sunday's election and have announced massive security measures to protect voters. Iraqis will chose a 275-seat National Assembly and provincial councils in Iraq's 18 provinces in the first nationwide balloting since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Large turnouts are expected among Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims in the south and minority Kurds in the northeast. But the big question is whether Sunni Arabs, who form the core of the insurgency, will defy rebel threats and their clergy's calls for a boycott and participate in substantial numbers.
Failure of significant numbers of Sunnis to participate would call into question the legitimacy of the new Iraqi leadership, widening the gulf among the country's ethnic and religious groups and setting the stage for even more turmoil.
In a series of interviews yesterday on American television talk shows, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte acknowledged an increase in rebel intimidation of Iraqi officials and security forces and noted serious security problems remain in the Sunni Triangle north and west of Baghdad.
But security measures are being taken
by both the multinational forces here in Iraq as well as the Iraqi armed forces and police Negroponte told Fox News Sunday.
There will be some problematic areas ... But even there great efforts are being made to enable every Iraqi eligible to do so to be able to vote
he said.
Underscoring the threat, a speaker identifying himself as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -the leader of Iraq's al-Qaida affiliate -condemned the election, branding candidates as demi-idols and saying those who vote for them are infidels -a clear threat to the safety of all those who participate in the balloting.
We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology
the speaker said in an audiotape posted yesterday on an Islamic Web site. Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it.
The speaker warned Iraqis to be careful of the enemy's plan to implement so-called democracy in your country. He said the Americans have engineered the election to install Shiite Muslims in power. Al-Zarqawi has, in the past, branded Shiites as heretics.
The United States has offered a $25 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture or death -the same amount as for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Most of the insurgents are believed to be Sunni Arabs, who lost influence and privilege with the fall of their patron Saddam. Their ranks have been reinforced by non-Iraqi Arab extremists who have come to Iraq to wage holy war against the Americans.
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