| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Allawi: Iraq Will Hold Elections in Jan |
| 2004-09-19 |
| Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi insisted elections will go ahead as scheduled in January despite a surge in violence, promising Sunday that the vote would be a "major blow" to the insurgency, as U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah. A wave of bombings, kidnappings and street fighting has claimed some 300 lives in the past week, part of a 17-month anti-U.S. insurgency that has persisted since Allawi's interim government took power in June. The strikes in Fallujah killed four people. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned there could not be "credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now." But Allawi, who spoke with reporters after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, said his interim government was determined "to stick to the timetable of the elections," which are due by Jan. 31. "January next I think is going to be a major blow to terrorists and insurgents. Once we go through the democratic process, once we achieve and progress toward democracy, the terrorists will be defeated," said Allawi, who is heading to the United Nations for this week's General Assembly session. "We are adamant that democracy is going to prevail, is going to win in Iraq," he said. Allawi clanks when he walks - at least most of the time. On the other hand, Kofi squishes and swishes, all of the time. |
| Posted by:.com |