Ba'athist insurgents to protect Iraq elections
(Filed: 11/12/2005)
Iraqi insurgents have signalled a major shift on January's
parliamentary elections, urging Sunni Arabs to vote and warning
al-Qa'eda militants not to attack polling stations.
Ba'athist loyalists boycotted Iraq's last set of elections and
intimidated would-be voters out of participation.
Now guerrillas in the volatile Anbar province say they are prepared
to protect voting stations from al-Qa'eda fighters.
Ali Mahmoud, a former army officer and rocket specialist under
Saddam's Ba'ath party, said: "We want to see a nationalist
government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni
brothers will be safe when they vote."
"Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets
telling al-Qa'eda that they will face us if they attack
voters."
The warning to al-Qa'eda suggests there may be a wider rift between
Saddam loyalists and fundamentalist militants, who have previously
co-operated in their efforts to drive out coalition forces.
Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who leads al-Qa'eda in
Iraq, has become a particular target of Ba'athist criticism.
"Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to
keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing
occupation," said Abu Abdullah, a Ba'athist insurgent leader.
The shift in favour of the elections will be encouraging for
Washington, which has long hoped Sunni factions will abandon
violence in favour of democratic participation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/11/uirq.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/11/ixportaltop.html
Insurgents fighting
terrorists..haha. 