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Iraq sealed off for poll
IRAQ sealed its frontiers today and imposed other draconian security measures to counter insurgents whose deadly campaign of intimidation threatens the country's historic election.
After another day of attacks which cost the lives of at least five US soldiers and 12 Iraqis, security forces battled against rebels in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said they were closer to capturing their top enemy, Al-Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and US President George W. Bush again appealed for Iraqis to brave the death threats and vote.
After another day of attacks which cost the lives of at least five US soldiers and 12 Iraqis, security forces battled against rebels in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said they were closer to capturing their top enemy, Al-Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and US President George W. Bush again appealed for Iraqis to brave the death threats and vote.
The roar of bomb and mortar blasts rumbled across the capital as it braced for a violent final day before the election.
Frontiers with neighbouring countries were sealed and Baghdad airport closed down because of the security worries. A night-time curfew was imposed along with a ban on travel between the 18 provinces.
In Baghdad and other cities, people rushed to shops and supermarkets to stock up on essential goods in anticipation of a violent weekend that would keep them confined to their homes.
Three US soldiers were killed and another wounded by the explosion of a makeshift bomb in western Baghdad, the US military said.
Another two American soldiers were killed and three wounded in two other separate incidents in the capital, bringing to 1412 the number of US servicemen killed in Iraqi since the March 2003 invasion.
US forces sounded a new alert when an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter crashed in southwest Baghdad. There was no word on the fate of the two-man crew, but the military said there was no sign that hostile fire was involved.
The chopper crash followed the deaths of 31 US troops killed in a helicopter crash in western Iraq on Wednesday - the worst day for US forces since the invasion.
Earlier, a suicide car bomb attack at a power station in the southern Baghdad killed four people. The masked driver of a black sport utility vehicle was stopped at the gates to the facility and the blast followed a few seconds later.
The bullet-riddled bodies of six Iraqi soldiers were found in the western city of Ramadi, where two more people were killed and eight wounded in fighting between Iraqi forces and insurgents.
Bombs also exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk, where a policeman was killed in a series of attacks on buildings to be used as voting stations.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh announced the capture of three senior Zarqawi followers and expressed hopes that the militant leader himself would soon be caught.
"I am hopeful, based on the evidence that we see, we are moving closer and closer to decimating and eliminating that threat from our country," he said.
The three Zarqawi operatives arrested included his commander for Baghdad who had met with the top militant more than 40 times in the past three months, officials said.
Zarqawi has pledged to wreck the election with violence and threats to voters.
Meanwhile, Iraqis living abroad joyously seized the chance to take part in the first vote since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003.
Ali al-Kabeer clapped his hands, shed tears and hugged his wife after casting a ballot in Dubai on the first of three days of voting for expatriates.
In the Iranian holy city of Qom, hundreds of Iraqi emigres queued in separate lines for men and women to cast a ballot.
Mr Bush, who has faced international criticism for the invasion, reaffirmed his support for the election.
"This history is changing the world, because the advent of democracy in Iraq will serve as a powerful example to reformers throughout the entire Middle East," the US leader said at the swearing-in for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"The terrorists understand that as well. And that is why they are now attacking Iraqi civilians in an effort to sabotage elections. We applaud the courage of ordinary Iraqis for their refusal to surrender their future to these killers."
In Iraq, electoral staff pressed on with final preparations for the vote to select a 275 member national assembly that will draw up a new constitution.
An estimated 14.2 million people are eligible to vote but the turnout at some 5500 polling stations is in doubt, because of the threats of violence and boycott calls from leading Sunni politicians and clerics.
Iraq's independent election commission predicted that 57 per cent of eligible voters would turn out, despite the violence and boycott calls.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12086317-23109,00.html
Frontiers with neighbouring countries were sealed and Baghdad airport closed down because of the security worries. A night-time curfew was imposed along with a ban on travel between the 18 provinces.
In Baghdad and other cities, people rushed to shops and supermarkets to stock up on essential goods in anticipation of a violent weekend that would keep them confined to their homes.
Three US soldiers were killed and another wounded by the explosion of a makeshift bomb in western Baghdad, the US military said.
Another two American soldiers were killed and three wounded in two other separate incidents in the capital, bringing to 1412 the number of US servicemen killed in Iraqi since the March 2003 invasion.
US forces sounded a new alert when an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter crashed in southwest Baghdad. There was no word on the fate of the two-man crew, but the military said there was no sign that hostile fire was involved.
The chopper crash followed the deaths of 31 US troops killed in a helicopter crash in western Iraq on Wednesday - the worst day for US forces since the invasion.
Earlier, a suicide car bomb attack at a power station in the southern Baghdad killed four people. The masked driver of a black sport utility vehicle was stopped at the gates to the facility and the blast followed a few seconds later.
The bullet-riddled bodies of six Iraqi soldiers were found in the western city of Ramadi, where two more people were killed and eight wounded in fighting between Iraqi forces and insurgents.
Bombs also exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk, where a policeman was killed in a series of attacks on buildings to be used as voting stations.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh announced the capture of three senior Zarqawi followers and expressed hopes that the militant leader himself would soon be caught.
"I am hopeful, based on the evidence that we see, we are moving closer and closer to decimating and eliminating that threat from our country," he said.
The three Zarqawi operatives arrested included his commander for Baghdad who had met with the top militant more than 40 times in the past three months, officials said.
Zarqawi has pledged to wreck the election with violence and threats to voters.
Meanwhile, Iraqis living abroad joyously seized the chance to take part in the first vote since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003.
Ali al-Kabeer clapped his hands, shed tears and hugged his wife after casting a ballot in Dubai on the first of three days of voting for expatriates.
In the Iranian holy city of Qom, hundreds of Iraqi emigres queued in separate lines for men and women to cast a ballot.
Mr Bush, who has faced international criticism for the invasion, reaffirmed his support for the election.
"This history is changing the world, because the advent of democracy in Iraq will serve as a powerful example to reformers throughout the entire Middle East," the US leader said at the swearing-in for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"The terrorists understand that as well. And that is why they are now attacking Iraqi civilians in an effort to sabotage elections. We applaud the courage of ordinary Iraqis for their refusal to surrender their future to these killers."
In Iraq, electoral staff pressed on with final preparations for the vote to select a 275 member national assembly that will draw up a new constitution.
An estimated 14.2 million people are eligible to vote but the turnout at some 5500 polling stations is in doubt, because of the threats of violence and boycott calls from leading Sunni politicians and clerics.
Iraq's independent election commission predicted that 57 per cent of eligible voters would turn out, despite the violence and boycott calls.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12086317-23109,00.html
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"Iraq" didn't do it! Leaving aside the question as to whether any force smaller than the Chinese army could have "sealed off" those fronteirs, the actions described were done (or attempted) by the United Snakes occupiers of Iraq and their puppet government, not by some entity properly called "Iraq". Even when there is a government that is accepted as legitimate by the majority of the people of a country, it is wrong to describe the actions of that government as the actions of the country. How much more so this is true when the government is the puppet of a foreign occupier.
I wouldn't make much of this, by the way, if it were merely a quote from the above article from the capitalist press. But these words were also the lead-in for this story in the center column of the indybay home page! Hopefully, that will be changed when one of the editors reads this or otherwise is stimulated to correct it.