*EPF213 12/28/2004
Iraqis Deserve Opportunity To Elect Their Leaders, Powell Says
(Secretary hopes all Iraqis will feel secure enough to go to vote) (470)

By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Iraqi people want to choose the future leaders of their country and deserve to have that opportunity, according to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

����This is not the time to let the tyrants and the terrorists take us back to the past, to the days of a Saddam Hussein-type regime,���� Powell said in one of several television appearances December 28.�� ����The people of Iraq want their own freely elected government.����

The secretary said that most Iraqis, including the Sunnis, want to vote in the January 30, 2005, elections for the Transitional National Assembly.�� There has been speculation as to whether the Sunnis will go to the polls in strong numbers given the security concerns in predominantly Sunni areas.

This speculation was heightened by the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Islamic Party����s recent announcement that it will not participate in the elections due to concerns about the feasibility of holding the vote in the face of the violence.

Powell said that coalition and Iraqi forces are focused on bringing security to the Sunni-dominated cities, and he said he hopes the Iraqi Islamic Party will review the situation as elections draw nearer and reconsider its decision.

����If they don't participate in this election, they're denying themselves the opportunity to speak for the future of their country and how they're going to be led and who their leaders are going to be,���� he said.

Referring to a recently released audiotape on which a man claiming to be Osama bin Laden praises Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for his deadly operations against the Iraqi people, Powell commented, ����We now have two murderers, two terrorists, two thugs, talking to each other.����

The secretary said it was no surprise that bin Laden and al-Zarqawi would call for a boycott of the elections.�� ����The last thing they want to see is the Iraqi people stepping forward and deciding who would be their leaders.�� They don't want democracy.�� They want tyranny,���� he said.

Powell said that the elections would not likely bring an end to the violence because the insurgents are determined to fight every step of Iraq����s progress toward a fully representative government.�� He added, however, that the Iraqi forces currently in training will eventually be in a position to bring the insurgency under control.

The January 30, 2005, elections will determine the composition of the 275-seat Transitional National Assembly, which will be charged with the task of writing a permanent constitution.�� After the constitution is approved in a general referendum, it will serve as the template for the formation of a new Iraqi government.

Voters will also be casting ballots January 30, 2005, for representatives on regional governorate councils.

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(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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