Jordan's King Abdullah says only extremists will gain if Iraqi elections go ahead as planned in January. In a text distributed in advance of an interview with the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, the king said "it appears to me impossible to organize indisputable elections in the chaos currently reigning in Iraq." The king also expressed concern that partial elections which excluded cities such as Falluja could isolate Sunni Muslims, saying that could create even deeper divisions in the country.
Abdullah, who is due to meet French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Tuesday, has been a strong Middle East ally of the United States in its war on terror. In a bid to crack down on these dangerous areas, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the American military will move into insurgent-heavy "no-go zones" in Iraq to clear the way for legitimate elections. Abdullah has also urged Iraqi authorities to reconstitute elements of the old Iraqi army to help train security forces as insurgent attacks wrack the nation.
Falluja police said on Tuesday U.S. airstrikes targeting an al-Zarqawi terrorist site killed at least three people and wounded nine others overnight. The U.S. military says the strikes were targeted at a site where insurgents were planning suicide bombings against Iraqi citizens and security forces. |