Iraq Sunnis fear bombs not bin Laden on poll day

BAGHDAD - Plagued by violence and fearing reprisals, many of Iraq's Sunni Muslims say they had resolved to stay at home on election day long before Osama bin Laden said anyone who voted was a infidel.

With only a month to go until Iraq's first free poll, many Iraqis in the Sunni north and west said they would not vote while US-led troops remained on Iraqi soil anyway. Even those who once dreamed of casting their ballot now say they are too busy trying to stay alive to think about the January 30 poll.

"It makes no sense to put your life in danger to vote when the Americans will put whoever they want in power anyway," said Mohammed, a Baghdad resident who refused to give his full name, on Tuesday.

"Whatever Bin Laden says, people had already made up their minds not to vote. I didn't even register."

An audio tape purportedly from the al Qaeda leader was aired on Monday, urging Iraqis to boycott the poll and saying anyone who took part was an infidel.

But Iraqis dismissed the Saudi-born militant's threats as outside interference. They had more pressing worries.

"I'm not bothered about the election; all I want is to return to Falluja and for violence to stop throughout Iraq," said Said al-Dulaimi, 42, who fled last month's US-led offensive in the western Iraqi city.

"Bin Laden knows nothing about Iraq; he is an extremist who lives in caves. He lost 75 per cent of his support in Iraq by making everyone who votes in elections an infidel."

Most of Falluja's population is still sheltering outside the city after the US attack aimed at crushing foreign fighters led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

US and Iraqi officials admit some Sunni provinces are still not ready for elections. The possiblity that they will be excluded has raised fears over the legitimacy of a poll in which only Iraq's 60-per cent Shi'ite majority in the south and Kurds, who already have automony in the north, take part.

In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, extremists have stuck posters up in mosques warning those who vote will be punished. Last month, insurgents overran police stations in the city of three million and most officers deserted. People feel they have no authority to turn to.

In Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of the capital, rebels have distributed leaflets warning residents to keep away from polling stations because they were marked for attack.

Three officials from Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, which is organising the poll, were dragged from their cars in Baghdad this month and killed in broad daylight.

Northern polling stations have been attacked with rockets.

"I won't participate in the election because I am scared," said Omar Selham, 29, a businessman from the northern city of Mosul, whose population is mainly Sunni Arab with some Kurds.

"Anyway, the American presence in the country gives you the impression that the election is false and unfair."

US officials are pushing for Iraqis to give Sunni Arabs, who make up 20 per cent of Iraq's population, government posts even if they win few seats in the election because their constituents could not or would not vote.

On Monday, Iraq's leading Sunni party said it was pulling out of the election because violence in Sunni areas meant it would not be fair to the minority which dominated the country under ousted president Saddam Hussein.

That left even those who were willing to brave bombs and bullets to take part with few choices to vote for.

"We would participate if the Muslim Clerics' Association and Iraqi Islamic Party ran, because they are our guidance," said Sheikh Mohammed Abdul Hadi, 55, a preacher from Falluja. "But they pulled out of the election so we will not take part."

- REUTERS