Muslim Scholars Commission boycott the elections in Iraq

The American ambassador in Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said that the aim of the USA is to leave Iraq "as soon as possible, without causing security tension."

In a press conference at the conferences palaces in the downtown of Baghdad, he linked this withdrawal with the readiness of the Iraqi security forces to assume the missions of security as well as to the participation of all Iraqi forces in the political operations.

Khalilzad denied his country's intention to establish permanent military bases in Iraq, but he also talked on the need of halting what he called the support the Iraqis receive from abroad.

In Tokyo, the Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that his country wants to keep the foreign forces until Iraq establishes an army capable of preserving security.

For its part, the Muslim Scholars Commission announced boycotting of the next elections, stressing rejection to take part "in any political process under occupation." The spokesman for the commission Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Kubeisi said in a press conference in Baghdad that the commission respects the choices of the Iraqis over taking part in the elections. He stressed that "the commission does not stand with any one side in these elections."