100,000 demand Iraqi elections?

[kenny J]

Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims demonstrated in Baghdad today to demand prompt elections, the protest coming hours before US and Iraqi officials prepared to seek UN approval for their plans to transfer power in Iraq.
A delegation headed by the US chief administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, is in New York for a meeting later today with the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, hoping to persuade the world body to play a greater role in the transition of power in Baghdad.

But Mr Annan has been reluctant to embrace further UN involvement in Iraq until he is convinced that the country is safe. In August last year, a suicide truck bomber targeted the UN's Baghdad operation, killing 20 people including the UN special representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

A similar bombing on Sunday at the entrance to the headquarters of the US occupation authority, which killed 24 people and injured about 120, underscored the dangers and appeared timed to cause maximum disruption to today's talks in New York.

Today's demonstration saw a huge crowd of Shia Muslims, estimated by reporters at up to 100,000 strong, march about three miles to the University of al-Mustansariyah, where a representative of their spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, delivered a speech directed at the parties to the meeting at the UN headquarters.

Ayatollah Sistani, the country's most influential Shia leader, has rejected a US formula to transfer power via a provisional legislature selected by 18 regional caucuses. He insists instead upon full-blown national elections.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...126468,00.html

[Zendik]

I read this today from CNN, I wonder who the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is and if he is an extremeist.
One would think that if we could invade this country as quickly as we did we could have some sort of election process in place just as quick.

[kenny J]

One would think that if we could invade this country as quickly as we did we could have some sort of election process in place just as quick.

Zen,
I se what you are saying but do consider: A REAL democratic election would take a long time, AND the Iraqi people would most likely VOTE in an ISLAMIC militant and the Pentagon's OWN reports said so BEFORE the war... SO there will be a RUSH election installing a puppet government that BOWS to the US... SO much for democratic IDEALS...

In my opinion, IRAQ is a major can of worms for generations to come...

ken

PS: The ART of changing opinions
• Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy: "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

• March 4, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a breakfast with reporters: "What you'd like to do is have it be a short, short conflict. ... Iraq is much weaker than they were back in the '90s," when its forces were routed from Kuwait.

• March 11, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars: "The Iraqi people understand what this crisis is about. Like the people of France in the 1940s, they view us as their hoped-for liberator."

• March 16, Vice President Cheney, on NBC's Meet the Press: "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. ... I think it will go relatively quickly, ... (in) weeks rather than months." He predicted that regular Iraqi soldiers would not "put up such a struggle" and that even "significant elements of the Republican Guard ... are likely to step aside."

The war begins

• March 20, President Bush, in an Oval Office speech to the nation: "A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict."

• March 21, Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon news briefing: "The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away. ... The regime is starting to lose control of their country."

• March 27, Bush, at a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, when asked how long the war would take: "However long it takes. That's the answer to your question and that's what you've got to know. It isn't a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory."

• March 30, Myers, on Meet the Press: "Nobody should have any illusions that this is going to be a quick and easy victory. This is going to be a tough war, a tough slog yet, and no responsible official I know has ever said anything different once this war has started."

• Sunday, Rumsfeld, on Fox News Sunday, when asked if Iraqis would "celebrate in the streets" when victory is achieved: "We'll see."

Source: USA TODAY research