Jordan Times
Thursday, December 23, 2004
King meets Allawi, urges all Iraqis to take part in elections
HIS MAJESTY KING Abdullah on Wednesday stressed the need for the Iraqis to preserve their unity and Arab identity, urging all Iraqis to participate in the upcoming January 30 elections.
King Abdullah told Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi at a meeting in Amman that Iraqis should fulfil such requirements to help restore their country's regional and international position, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The King said Jordan is keen to extend help to empower Iraqis to overcome their difficult situation, rebuild their institutions and determine their future.
The King stressed that Jordan will continue its efforts and contacts with the international community and donor countries to actively contribute in reconstructing Iraq and ease the country's debt burden. Prime Minister Faisal Fayez, Royal Court Minister Samir Rifai and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Bassem Awadallah attended the meeting. Upon his arrival in Amman, Allawi told Petra that the polls would be held on time. He said that during his visit he might meet with Iraqis in Jordan in a bid to gather maximum participation in the upcoming elections. “Our aim is to reunite all the Iraqis for comprehensive elections,” he added. World Bank President James Wolfensohn attended part of the King's meeting with Allawi. He reviewed the bank's efforts to contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq.
Mosul in lockdown after US base blasted In Iraq, meanwhile, US forces sealed off entire districts of Mosul on Wednesday, blocking bridges and raiding homes in a hunt for suspects after an attack that killed 18 Americans and four other people, Reuters reported. Mosul's governor issued an overnight order on television banning use of the five bridges over the River Tigris and said anyone breaking the order would be shot. Residents said Iraq's third city was a virtual ghost town, with no one in the streets.
FBI and other experts flown in from Baghdad were “in the middle of” determining what caused Tuesday's explosion at the Marez base in Mosul, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz said. “If it was a bomb, I think they'll be able to figure out the size and the kinds of materials that were put into it,” he told CNN. The military declined comment on an ABC television report that investigators found evidence that a suicide bomber carried out the deadliest attack on Americans since they invaded Iraq. “Investigators at the base have found remnants of a torso and a suicide vest that was probably a backpack,” ABC said, lending weight to a claim by Iraq's Ansar Sunna guerrillas.
A US spokesman in Mosul, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, said: “It is still under investigation.” The US military revised its description of the 22 people killed, saying 13 were American soldiers, not 14 as previously reported. It said the others were five US civilians, three Iraqi National Guards and a non-American — as yet unidentified. US officials initially said rocket and mortar rounds were fired but Ansar Sunna credited one of its “martyrs” and the US commander in Mosul said there was only one explosion. “Students went to school but were told to go home. People went to the shops, saw American troops in the streets, and went home,” said Ahmad, 25, a Mosul car dealer too anxious to give his surname. “The place is shut down,” said another worried resident, adding that mosques and markets were virtually empty. The US military said a 9:00pm to 5:00am curfew, imposed several weeks ago, remained in place. “We are conducting offensive operations to target specific objectives,” Hastings said. The attack has raised fears of a new guerrilla offensive before next month's election, six weeks after US troops stormed the rebel stronghold of Fallujah in a bid to crush the insurgency.
Hitherto quiet Mosul has seen near anarchy since. “We conducted our operations last night as we planned,” Metz said. “We're pushing on towards the elections.” Witnesses said US forces, backed by Iraqi National Guards, sealed off neighbourhoods in western and southeastern Mosul and raided homes. “They're looking in the areas that are known hot spots,” one resident in the west of the city said. Freed French Two French journalists, freed after a four-month hostage ordeal in Iraq, headed home for Christmas. The French government, which opposed the Iraq war, said no ransom was paid to the kidnappers of Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot. The opposition said the government would have to explain its handling of the crisis, including why France's close ties with the Arab world had failed to secure the men's freedom earlier. Forty-four of the revised toll of 69 wounded were US soldiers. Some were taken to a military hospital in Germany and eight in critical condition, hospital staff said.
The previous costliest incident for Americans was last year when two helicopters came down in Mosul killing 17 soldiers. Bush condolences US President George W. Bush, who said on Monday the bombers were taking a toll, sent his condolences to the families. He called Iraq “a vital mission for peace” as a new poll showed most Americans believe the war was not worth it. The attack was a reminder of the threat guerrillas pose ahead of the January 30 elections. “It was a tragic event, but it will not deter us from our mission,” said Sergeant Steve Valley, a US spokesman in Baghdad.
Tuesday's attack took place when US soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez, a huge camp built round the city's airfield, were sitting down to lunch in a vast tented hall made of canvas and metal — a type used throughout Iraq. “A fireball enveloped the top of the tent, and pellet-sized shrapnel sprayed into the men,” wrote witness Jeremy Redmon, a journalist for the US Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper. Mosul, an ethnically mixed city of Arabs and Kurds, has slid into chaos over recent months, especially since guerrillas routed the US-trained police in mid-November, as US troops were concentrating on storming Fallujah, west of Baghdad. In the past two months alone nearly 200 people have been found dead, most of them Iraqis, in a city of two million.