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Iraq

Boycott clerics decry vote but seek a role

By wire services
Published February 3, 2005

BAGHDAD - Leading Sunni Muslim clerics who had boycotted the Iraqi election said Wednesday they would "respect the choice of those who voted" and work with a new government, even though they considered the election invalid.

The statement, while accompanied by renewed criticisms of the election, signaled that the major Sunni group wants to be included in the formation of a new government. Sunni turnout in Sunday's election was expected to be light, possibly leaving them with relatively few seats in the new Parliament.

Ballots still are being counted, but interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gathered the heads of 16 parties in his office Wednesday to begin work on compromises to guarantee a delicate balance of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in the next government. The major political groups have said they would put aside their competition and work to achieve a balance for the sake of national stability.

Allawi declared Wednesday that the success of the elections had dealt a major blow to the insurgents, who have not carried out a major attack since the balloting, and he predicted they will be defeated within months.

"They might be reorganizing themselves and changing their plans," Allawi said of the insurgents. "The coming days and weeks will show whether this trend will continue. . . . But the final outcome will be failure. They will continue for months but this (insurgency) will end."

Allawi himself may not continue to be prime minister. As expected, the head of the major Shiite-backed list, Abdul Aziz Hakim, said the next prime minister should come from the parties on his list. The Shiite grouping of parties is widely expected to have the largest bloc in the next Parliament.

Allawi is a Shiite but ran with a secular list that is likely to be the second- or third-largest party.

Shiite Arabs, long oppressed under former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, constitute an estimated 60 percent of the population. The minority Sunni Arabs, an estimated 20 percent of the population, held much of the power under Hussein, and their clerical leaders urged them to boycott the election.

But in its first statement since the balloting, the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars said it would "consider the new government ... as a transitional government with limited powers." The Parliament that is to be formed has been designated as transitional, charged with writing a constitution and holding another election in December.

The clerics' withdrawal from the election last fall had threatened to undermine the poll's legitimacy. Their decision, and threats aimed at Sunnis from insurgents opposed to the election, sharply dampened turnout in some Sunni Arab areas.

The Washington Post quoted an unnamed Western diplomat who closely monitored the election as estimating that turnout was less than 50 percent overall in Sunni areas. Shiites and Kurds, by comparison, voted enthusiastically and in large numbers. The Iraqi election commission, tabulating the ballots from 29,000 election stations, has said it will take a week or longer before complete results and the turnout figures are announced.

The clerics said the expected low Sunni turnout confirms their position that the vote, taken while American and other foreign troops are in Iraq, is illegitimate.

"We make it clear to the United Nations and the international community that they should not get involved in granting this election legitimacy because such a move will open the gates of evil," the statement said.

NEW YORK - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq.

"Congress has set the laws, and it is the duty of executive agencies to comply with them," U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote.

It was the second time in six months that the judge suggested the government was impeding the American Civil Liberties Union's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit in October 2003 seeking information on treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The group is seeking the records to show that prisoner abuse by the United States is "not aberrational but systemic."

WASHINGTON - President Bush engaged in another round of telephone diplomacy Wednesday, calling allies to drum up support for the new government being created in Iraq after last weekend's elections.

Bush called Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and El Salvador President Tony Saca, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

The president is calling allies to build on the momentum of the Iraqi election and boost foreign aid to the new Iraqi government, as well as lay groundwork for his trip to Europe this month.

CAIRO - In a clear reference to Iraq's weekend balloting, a statement purportedly made by Osama bin Laden's top deputy says holy war, not "rigged elections," is the only path for reform in Islamic nations.

The written statement, said to have been the transcript of an audio recording of a speech by al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, first appeared on several Islamist Internet sites Tuesday.

"Reform can't be achieved under governments installed by the (foreign) occupier through rigged elections conducted under the supervision of the United Nations and protected by B-52s and Apache helicopter rockets," Zawahri said. "There is no reform except through holy war."

It was not immediately possible to authenticate the statement. The audiotape itself was inaccessible on several militant Web sites where it had been posted.

Zawahri is believed to be hiding with bin Laden along the Pakistani-Afghanistan border.

Information from the Washington Post and Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:08:13]