BAGHDAD, Iraq - Plans for holding Iraqi national elections in January elicit growing skepticism among many Iraqis who question whether balloting can be free and fair so long as the Americans wield such vast influence over the country.
Mounting violence has already delayed the elections for months. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed for nothing more than lining up to take jobs with the police or to sign on with the national guard. Insurgent mortar and rocket attacks are daily events even in Baghdad. Cities like Fallujah and Ramadi are under the control of militants.
Going to the polls may well be a very dangerous undertaking, and the possibility of a truly representative government emerging from the January voting appears a diminishing hope.
If the vote proves credible, Iraqis will have chosen a genuinely representative government for the first time in modern history, a major hurdle in putting behind them the decades of oppression imposed until Saddam Hussein was ousted 17 months ago. The elections are vital to a U.S. exit strategy from Iraq.
But attaining that level of credibility will prove difficult in a country where anti-U.S. sentiment runs high, most people distrust the key players in Iraq's postwar politics and many tend to routinely blame the United States for everything that goes wrong.
Additionally, there is a widespread expectation that large and well-funded political parties — with tacit U.S. patronage — will trounce smaller anti-American groups.
Despite the raging violence, President Bush (news - web sites) and Iraq's Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi are determined the vote must go ahead on schedule.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=3&u=/ap/20040925/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_the_election
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