Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sunni Arab alliance open to Iraq coalition


On Saturday, two Iraqi municipality workers in Baghdad remove an election campaign poster for the Shiite-led  United Iraqi Alliance. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Elena Becatoros Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Cars and trucks returned to Iraq’s roads Saturday as authorities eased tight security imposed for the parliamentary election, and the main Sunni Arab alliance said it was open to forming a governing coalition with a religious Shiite bloc.

With Thursday’s voting held peacefully, Iraqi officials also reopened border crossings, except on the frontier with Syria. They said the Syrian crossings would resume in a few days, but did not say why there was a delay.

There were few violent incidents reported for a third day. In four shootings, attackers killed a former Iraqi air force officer, a member of a prominent Shiite party and two policemen, authorities said. The U.S. command also reported the death of a Marine from a non-hostile wound.

Although no official vote figures have been released, authorities estimate just under 70 percent of Iraq’s 15 million registered voters cast ballots Thursday.

The big turnout – particularly among the disaffected Sunni Arab minority that boycotted the election of a temporary legislature last January – has boosted hopes that increasing political participation may undermine the insurgency and allow U.S. troops to begin pulling out next year.

“It is a great thing that the election was violence free, contrary to many elections in the world,” Adnan al-Dulaimi, a former Islamic studies professor who heads the main Sunni Arab bloc, said at a news conference.

His Iraqi Accordance Front is expected to significantly increase the Sunni Arab presence in the 275-member parliament, where Sunnis won only 17 seats Jan. 30.

A day after saying he might be able to form a ruling coalition from Sunnis, secular Shiites and Kurds, Al-Dulaimi said he also would consider working with the now governing United Iraqi Alliance, a religious-based group whose supporters come from the country’s Shiite majority.

“For the sake of Iraq, there is nothing impossible. We have to forget the past and we extend our hands to everybody,” he said.

U.S. officials view al-Dulaimi as a possible intermediary who could persuade some Sunni-led insurgent groups in restive Anbar province to give up violence and join the political process. President Bush planned to make a broadcast address on Iraq tonight.