War-torn nation to seal borders, implement curfew during voting

[scott.voigt]

Gunmen kill three Iraqi candidates


A frame from video footage shows two masked gunmen guarding eight Chinese hostages at an unknown location in Iraq. The men, who are construction workers, are being held by insurgents who claim they are employed by a firm that works with U.S. troops.

War-torn nation to seal borders, implement curfew during voting


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen shot and killed three candidates running in Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections, officials said Tuesday, as a suicide bombing killed two people outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party.


With insurgents trying to ruin the election, officials announced that Iraq will seal its borders, extend a curfew and restrict movement to protect voters during the balloting. President Bush spoke Tuesday morning with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the latest in a series of conversations between the two leaders on Iraq’s efforts to ensure maximum participation in the election.

Two of the slain candidates belonged to Allawi’s political coalition, the Iraqi National Accord, a member of the group said.

Alaa Hamid, who was running for the 275-member National Assembly, was shot dead Monday in the southern port city of Basra in front of his family, the official said on condition of anonymity. Hamid was also the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee in Basra.

Riad Radi, who was running in the local race for Basra’s provincial council on a list supported by Allawi’s INC, was killed Sunday when masked gunmen fired on his car as he was driving with his family, the official said.

Basra, a predominantly Shiite Muslim city, has been relatively calm in recent weeks, though insurgents fired four mortar rounds Sunday at schools slated to serve as polling centers.

In Baghdad on Monday, masked gunmen shot dead another candidate, Shaker Jabbar Sahla, a Shiite Muslim who was running in the National Assembly election for the Constitutional Monarchy Movement. The party is headed by Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a cousin of Iraq’s last king.

[scott.voigt]

With insurgents trying to ruin the election, officials announced that Iraq will seal its borders

Finally, I think it's a little too late though if you ask me.

[Snowden]

I'm afraid it's way too late, Scott. And there is still the on-going problem with those of the Ba'ath Party, the Feyadeen, and others who were prospering under Saddam's rule. Plus Saddam is still alive - which means he can still be put back in power in their eyes.

It will be a mess, I'm afraid.