Delay in Iraqi elections ‘would lead to a bloodbath’

ANY delay in Iraq’s January 30 elections would lead to civil war and a “bloodbath” in the country, the interim government’s national security advisor warned yesterday.

Muwafaq al-Rubaie was speaking after the assassination yesterday morning of the governor of Baghdad province Ali al-Haidari, the most senior member of the Iraqi authorities to be killed by insurgents since May.

His murder, along with six bodyguards in a Baghdad suburb, was swiftly followed by a suicide tanker truck bomb at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters in the Iraqi capital, which killed 10 people and injured 60. Responsibility for both atrocities was claimed by al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Iraq’s most wanted terrorist, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

“We tell every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians that this is your fate,” said the statement on a website known for carrying militants’ claims.

Mr al-Rubaie insisted that no delay in the poll could be contemplated, even if it meant voting went ahead in areas where security could not be guaranteed.

“If we delay it for a week or so, the country will go into bloodbath,” he told BBC Radio. “This will definitely trigger a huge civil war. The best insurance policy to protect this country from civil war is to have the election on January 30.” Postponement of the poll would provoke a “constitutional crisis”, as the transitional administrative law which created the interim government did not allow for its continued authority after the end of January.

Iraq’s intelligence chief General Muhammad Shahwani estimated that the insurgency fighting the government and multi-national forces numbered as many as 200,000 militants and supporters.

But Mr al-Rubaie rejected this figure as “very unfortunate”.

“I definitely do not agree that there are 200,000 terrorists,” he said, adding that foreign fighters could probably be measured in hundreds and militants from Saddam Hussein’s former Ba’ath Party in thousands.

He continued: “The more these people are attacking Iraqis, the more we will be determined to continue with the political process.”

He hailed Mr al-Haidari as “one of the best servants of the new Iraq” and said his murder was a sign of the determination of insurgents to prevent elections.