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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Baathists allied with al-Qaeda to derail Iraqi elections |
| 2005-01-26 |
| Al-Qaeda and Baathist supporters of ousted president Saddam Hussein have formed a "marriage of convenience" to mount violent opposition to Sunday's Iraqi elections, a top US commander said. Major General John Batiste, commander of US troops in the sector north of Baghdad that includes many insurgent hotspots, also warned that more suicide bombs and other attacks were likely during the landmark vote. Batiste, head of the 1st Infantry Division, said more than 750 insurgents, including members of Al-Qaeda and foreign fighters, had been detained since January 1 in the four provinces in the sector -- Salaheddin, Diyala, Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk's Tamim province. During an interview late Tuesday with reporters at his office in a Tikrit palace formerly belonging to Saddam, Batiste named Al-Qaeda and its frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the biggest threats to the election. He said Osama bin Laden's group and Zarqawi want "to destroy what is going on at all costs. They don't care what they do." Former supporters of the fallen dictator, whose hometown was Tikrit, are also behind trouble in the sector, which includes insurgent troublespots Baquba, Baiji and Samarra. "So there are marriages of convenience between those people and Al-Qaeda and Zarqawi." The general said the Iraqi people should know that "a vote on the 30th is a vote for Iraq and a vote against the insurgency and people have just got to step out." Many voters fear attacks however and Batiste admitted that he could not guarantee their safety. "Absolutely not. I wouldn't even begin to say that. But the Iraqi security forces are doing a credible job of setting this thing up for success." The election will be surrounded by massive security measures, with nearly all cars banned from the streets, a nightly curfew and other restrictions. But the general said the threat from suicide bombers mingling with voters was a major concern for US and Iraqi forces. "It is very possible that we will see some of that -- the suicide jackets and everything," he said. On election day, Iraqi police will guard polling stations, with the Iraqi army forming an outer security cordon and US forces playing a support role. "On election day we will be everywhere and US quick reaction forces, 25,000 strong, are committed to ensuring that we have a good, safe and secure election. We will do whatever we need to assist Iraqi security forces." The general said that since the start of the month more than 80 weapons and ammunition caches had been seized. "We have killed and wounded a good number of insurgents," he added. "So the idea is that we are piling on pressure (on the enemy), we are disrupting his activity so that come election day he is back on his heels." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |