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'Force needed to bring peace'
26/04/2004 20:40 - (SA)
Baghdad - Iraq's top security official warned on Monday that force may be needed to bring "lasting peace" to the besieged western city of Fallujah and the southern holy city of Najaf.
"Sometimes one has to use force to bring lasting peace," Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, newly appointed national security advisor, told reporters.
"But rest assured we continue to pursue efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Fallujah and Najaf; no stone will be left unturned."
He said Iraq was at "a very dangerous crossroads," as the choice was between democracy and progress or a return to sectarianism and dictatorship.
"Iraqis must unite to extract the cancer of foreign fighters and former regime loyalists once and for all from the Iraqi body," said an emotional Rubaie.
He told Iraqi journalists that they had a duty to inform citizens about the tough choices and challenges they faced.
He said reporters should refrain from describing the events in Fallujah and Najaf as a "fight against occupation, because occupation will end on June 30," with the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government.
"The true fight is stopping terrorists and Saddam's gang before it is too late," said Rubaie.
A ceasefire in the besieged western Sunni town of Fallujah was falling apart on Monday amid renewed fierce fighting.
US commanders warned that their patience was running out and marines may have to attack the city to rid it of loyalists of ousted president Saddam Hussein and foreign fighters.
In the south, about 2 500 US soldiers are camped near the holy city of Najaf in order to force wanted cleric Moqtada Sadr to answer charges of involvement in the murder of a rival cleric, and to disband his militia.
Sadr, who has been holed up in Najaf for three weeks, has warned US troops that his followers will carry out suicide attacks if they dare enter the city.
- AFP
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