Posted on: Sunday, February 6, 2005
Sunnis, facing defeat, seek voice in shaping Iraq's future
By Robert H. Reid
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Facing the prospect of a Shiite Muslim landslide, Sunni politicians offered yesterday to participate in mapping the nation's political future. But Sunni rebels showed no sign of compromise, killing three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
Officials of the Shiite-led coalition that has rolled up a big lead in last weekend's elections said it wants the prime minister post in the upcoming government — casting doubt on chances that U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi can keep his job.
Meanwhile, police questioned the driver and translator of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was seized by gunmen Friday near Baghdad University — the first reported kidnapping of a foreigner since the Jan. 30 vote. But police said the two were not suspects in her abduction.
Allawi, whose ticket is running a distant second in election returns, had been seen as a possible compromise candidate.
But the United Iraqi Alliance — a Shiite-led group whose leaders have ties to Iran — appeared confident it would have to be given the prime minister spot.
Iraq's presidency is a largely ceremonial post, currently held by a Sunni Arab, Ghazi al-Yawer. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani has announced his candidacy for president, and the Kurds are likely to end up as one of the top three blocs in the assembly. Shiites and Kurds suffered under Saddam Hussein's regime and are expected to work together in the assembly.
The Iraqi election commission released no new election returns yesterday, but predicted it would announce final vote totals by Thursday. The National Assembly must elect a president and two vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. The three in turn select a prime minister subject to assembly approval.
Partial returns from about 35 percent of the 5,200 polling centers showed the Alliance, which was endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with about 66 percent of the votes to 18 percent for Allawi, a secular Shiite. Shiites are believed to make up two-thirds of Iraq's 26 million people.
Most of those returns were from Shiite provinces. No returns have been announced from much of Baghdad and from heavily Sunni Arab or Kurdish provinces.
But many Sunnis apparently stayed at home on election day, heeding boycott calls by hard-line clerics or fearing insurgent attacks.
In a bid to avoid marginalization, a group of Sunni Arab parties that refused to participate in the election said yesterday they want to take part in the drafting of a permanent constitution.
Nevertheless, armed Sunni groups — including nationalists, Saddam supporters and Islamic zealots — showed little sign they were ready to join in any national reconciliation.
Explosions rumbled through Baghdad at sunset, and police said insurgents had fired mortar shells near Baghdad's international airport.
A U.S. Marine was killed yesterday during "security and stability operations" in Bail province south of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. Two American soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing Friday night near the town of Beiji, about 155 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said yesterday.
A roadside bomb killed four Iraqi national guardsmen in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. Gunmen stormed a police station in the northern city of Mosul, killing five officers, police said.
Elsewhere, insurgents assassinated a member of the Baghdad city council, and a member of Iraq's intelligence service in separate drive-by shootings.
Bombs and clashes killed seven Iraqis in Samarra and Tal Afar, north of Baghdad, and in Ramadi, to the west.
Eight bodies were found yesterday in Anbar province and residents said they were believed to be Iraqis who worked for the Americans or Iraqi security services.
The extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army posted a video on an Islamist Web site yesterday showing seven people being shot. The group said the seven were Iraqi national guardsmen captured two days ago in an ambush west of Baghdad.
