Sunnis: Iraq Vote Illegitimate

[David]

AP


Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the country's landmark elections lack legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting ? which the clerics had asked them to boycott.

Emboldened by the elections, which U.S. and Iraqi authorities cited as a victory for democracy, the police chief in Mosul demanded the insurgents hand over weapons within two weeks or he would "wipe out" anyone giving them shelter.

Large numbers of majority Shiite Muslims and Kurds took part in Sunday's election for a new National Assembly and regional parliaments. Although no results or turnout figures have been released, U.S. officials say turnout appeared much lower in Sunni areas where the insurgency is strongest.

In other recent developments:


The British military transport plane that crashed in Iraq, killing all 10 servicemen on board, was equipped with anti-missile protection, the Ministry of Defense said Wednesday. Investigators probing the downing of the Hercules C-130K north of Baghdad at the weekend are studying a videotape from guerrillas that appears to suggest the plane was shot down, a spokesman said.


Al Qaeda will attack U.S. prisons in Iraq to take revenge for a riot in which four detainees were killed, an Internet statement purportedly from the terror group said Wednesday.


Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the U.S. released Iraqi prisoners, but the U.S. military later said that no GI's have been reported missing in Iraq. The authenticity of the statement and accompanying photo could not be verified, and Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, Inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to the African-American version of its "Cody" military action figure.


A former Abu Ghraib guard pleaded guilty Tuesday to three of five charges in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Sgt. Javal Davis, 27, pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, battery and making a false official statement to Army investigators after explicit photographs from the prison were made public last spring.

In its first statement since the balloting, the Association of Muslim Scholars said the vote lacked legitimacy because of low Sunni participation. The Association months ago called on Sunnis to shun the polls because of the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops.

Iraqi officials acknowledged voting problems, including a ballot shortage in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul, which have substantial Sunni populations.

With many Sunnis having stayed away, a ticket endorsed by the Shiite clergy is expected to gain the biggest number of seats in the 275-member National Assembly, followed by the Kurds and a list headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.

In its statement, the Association said the election "lacks legitimacy because a large portion of these people who represent many spectra have boycotted it." As a result, the Association said the new leadership lacked a mandate to draft a new constitution and should be considered a temporary administration.

"We make it clear to the United Nations and the international community that they should not get involved in granting this election legitimacy because such a move will open the gates of evil," the statement said.

"We are going to respect the choice of those who voted and we will consider the new government ? if all the parties participating in the political process agree on it ? as a transitional government with limited powers."

Official voter turnout figures have yet to be released, but a Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday said turnout appeared to have been "quite low" in Iraq's vast Anbar province, which includes the rebellious cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

He said that based on anecdotal accounts, turnout in three other provinces with large Sunni Arab populations was slightly higher but not more than 50 percent.

In Mosul, police Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Jubouri offered amnesty to insurgents who handed over their weapons within two weeks but promised tough action if they did not. In an interview with the provincial television station, al-Jubouri threatened "to wipe out any village that would hide weapons after the two-week period and shell any safe haven for the insurgents."

With the threat of election violence past, the U.S. Army handed over control Wednesday of several combat outposts to Iraqi security forces on the west side of Mosul.

Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, has been tense since insurgents rose up in November in support of rebels under siege in Fallujah west of Baghdad. The entire 5,000 member police force deserted before U.S. and Iraqi troops regained control.

Meanwhile, insurgents blew up an oil pipeline Wednesday near the central city of Samarra, police said. The pipeline serves domestic power stations in Baghdad and Beiji and does not affect exports.

An Iraqi motorist was shot dead on the main desert highway west of Baghdad Wednesday. A witnesses claimed U.S. troops opened fire when the vehicle tried to overtake an American military convoy. U.S. vehicles have often been targeted by car bombers who ram convoys.

A U.S. Army spokesman said he had no immediate information on the shooting.

Elsewhere, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday urged the world body to stop using the country's oil revenue to pay compensation to Kuwaiti victims of the 1991 Gulf War and the salaries of U.N. weapons inspectors.

The payments were mandated under resolutions approved by the U.N. Security Council after a U.S.-led coalition drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991.

"I think it's generally acknowledged that Iraq now does not pose such a threat and does not in its present form have any weapons of mass destruction," Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie said. "And, therefore, to continue to fund a bureaucracy to do what, to just continue to say every day that they have found nothing?"