Iraq elections begin process to democratic government, Bush says
Iraq-USA, Politics, 12/21/2004

US President George W. Bush said Iraq's January 30, 2005, elections are the beginning of a process that will lead to the drafting of a new Iraqi constitution and the election of "a fully democratic constitutional government" by December 2005.

Bush said yesterday that more than 80 political parties and coalitions have been formed for the January elections and more than 7,000 candidates have registered to run for the 275-member transitional national assembly and local legislatures.

"The new national assembly will be responsible for drafting a constitution for a free Iraq. By next October the constitution will be submitted to the people for ratification. If it is approved, then by December the voters of Iraq will elect a fully democratic, constitutional government," Bush said.

The president said he did not expect the voting process to be "trouble free," but expressed his confidence in the result. "I'm confident that terrorists will fail, the elections will go forward and Iraq will be a democracy that reflects the values and traditions of its people," he said.

Bush acknowledged that the continuing violence targeting innocent Iraqis is "having an effect."

"[C]ar bombs that destroy young children or car bombs that indiscriminately bomb in religious sites are effective propaganda tools," but the United States must meet the objective of helping Iraqis defend themselves and move forward on the political process, he said.

The United States will help by increasing troop strength and training Iraqi forces to help provide security. However, Bush said, the results of deploying Iraqi units have been "mixed." U.S. military leaders in charge of the training have been analyzing "what worked and what didn't work," he said. "[T]hey've got some generals in place and they've got foot soldiers in place, but the whole command structure necessary to have a viable military is not in place," Bush said. Bush said "There have been some cases where when the heat got on, they left the battlefield. That's unacceptable. Iraq will never secure itself if they have troops that when the heat gets on, they leave the battlefield."

Previous Stories:
  American researchers and US troops in Iraq   (12/11/2004)
  UN envoy to Iraq discusses the elections with Washington   (12/11/2004)
  Iraqi president on the latest developments in Iraq   (12/8/2004)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search