'Insurgents will be defeated'
2005-02-03 13:18
Baghdad - Iraq's interim prime minister declared on Wednesday that the success of the national elections had dealt a major blow to the insurgents - who have not carried out a major attack since the balloting - and predicted they will be defeated within months.
But a major Sunni clerical group declared that the Sunday elections "lack legitimacy" because many Sunni Arabs did not take part and that the new government would have no mandate to guide the nation's future.
That suggested problems remain in reconciling with the Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's 26 million people but form the core of the insurgency.
Nevertheless, both Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his major Shiite Muslim rivals reached out on Wednesday to the Sunnis, promising them a major role in drafting the new constitution even though many of them shunned the ballot - either out of fear of rebel attack or opposition to the electoral process.
Elections handed a major blow
Allawi, a secular Shiite backed by the Americans, told Iraqi television that the elections, which drew large turnouts except in Sunni insurgent strongholds, constituted a "major blow to all forces of terrorism."
He noted that attacks by Sunni insurgents had fallen dramatically since the elections but it was unclear whether the drop was the start of a trend. Insurgent activity also slowed after the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis last June but picked up weeks later.
"They might be reorganising 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."
Following the election, US military planners hope to shift from offensive operations against the insurgents to training Iraqi forces to do the job.
Three days after the balloting, the Iraqi election commission has still not released any results or turnout figures, promising them with a week. Political sources say the ticket endorsed by the Shiite clergy was expected to win the largest share of the 275 National Assembly seats.
Iraqi politicians were relieved that the elections went off without major violence, despite rebel threats to "wash the streets in blood." More than 40 people were killed in eight suicide bombings and about 100 attacks on polling stations.
Encouraged by a perceived election success, the police chief in the rebel-infested city of Mosul, General Mohammed Ahmed al-Jubouri, gave insurgents two weeks to hand in their weapons or he would "wipe out any village" that gave them shelter. - AP
- SAPA