US and Iraq vow to press ahead on elections

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush and interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar have vowed to press ahead with January 30 elections in Iraq despite a surge in violence that has killed more than 70 in recent days.

Insurgents have launched a series of attacks in Sunni areas since Friday, mainly targeting Iraqi security forces and civilians working with the US military. The two leaders met on Monday, also after an attack on the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in which 12 people died in gun battles.

Bush linked the Iraqi elections with the attack on the US consulate in Saudi Arabia, saying it showed that "the terrorists are still on the move" and intent on derailing Iraqi elections.

"They want us to leave Saudi Arabia. They want us to leave Iraq. They want us to grow timid and weary in the face of their willingness to kill randomly, kill innocent people. That's why these elections in Iraq are very important," Bush said.

Yawar, seated beside Bush in the Oval Office, came to Washington with a message that Iraqis want to vote on January 30, and that only "some politicians" want to boycott the elections.

"Right now, we're faced with the armies of darkness, who have no objective but to undermine the political process and incite civil war in Iraq. But I want to assure the whole world that this will never, ever happen, that we in Iraq are committed to move along," he said.

"After all these sacrifices, there's no way on earth that we will let it go in vain," Yawar said. "This is very important. Victory is not only possible, it's a fact. We can see it. It's there."

The United States is raising the US troop deployment in Iraq by 15,000 to try to provide security for the elections. Insurgents, meanwhile, appear to be able to strike with impunity. On Sunday, Yawar said he only expected American troops to be in Iraq for "six months or eight months or a year."

Bush said US commanders, working with US Ambassador John Negroponte and Iraqi security forces, will do everything possible to make election sites secure.

"You can never guarantee 100 per cent security. But the Iraqi people have the chance to say to the world, 'We choose democracy over terrorism,'" he said.

Bush is hoping successful Iraqi elections will improve the climate for peace in the Middle East that will allow for resolution of the long-running Palestinian-Israeli issue.

As part of that process, he also met with Jordan's King Abdullah on Monday. Bush is seeking to advance the process now that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is dead.

"I intend to work very closely with his majesty to seize that moment for the good of the Palestinian people and for the good of the Israelis, so that we can achieve peace that I know is on your mind," he told Abdullah.

Yawar said it was unfair to call the Iraqi insurgents Sunnis. Saddam Hussein's minority Sunnis ran the country and it's Shi'ite majority before he was toppled by the US-led invasion.

"These are not Sunnis," he said. "These are a mix of people who have one thing in common: Hatred to the Iraqi society and hatred to democracy, people who are trying to stop us from having our first elections," he said.

- REUTERS