Region | Iran
US commander fears election will be hijacked
Poll officials' links to revolutionary guard worry him
- Financial Times
- Published: 00:00 February 18, 2010
- Image Credit: AP
- A campaign poster in Baghdad for former prime minister Ebrahim Al Jaafari of the National Reform Movement says: "No room for Baath in Iraq". The US commander in Iraq is concerned after partially successful moves by two officials to disbar some 500 candidates because of supposed ties to the Baath party.
Washington: The US commander in Iraq has stepped up allegations that two top officials involved in vetting candidates for the country's parliamentary elections next month are tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
General Raymond Odierno said the Iraqi election campaign had taken a more sectarian tone after partially successful moves by Ahmad Chalabi and Ali Faisal Al Lami, who head the accountability and justice commission, to disbar some 500 candidates because of supposed ties to the Baath party of Saddam Hussain, the late dictator.
"I don't want the election hijacked," said Odierno, speaking in Washington. He said Al Lami and Chalabi were "clearly influenced by Iran", adding: "We have direct intelligence that tells us that."
Proof
He said US intelligence had connected Al Lami with an attack on US and Iraqi forces, although there was not enough evidence for a court of law.
Chalabi, once backed by the US, has long fallen from Washington's favour, partly because of his ties to Tehran.
Odierno also alleged that Al Lami and Chalabi had crossed into Iran for meetings with Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis, an Iraqi national who advises the Revolutionary Guard and is on the US terrorist list for his alleged involvement in 1980s bombing of Western embassies.
Al Lami recently protested that he worked for no foreign party and was not pursuing any particular agenda, adding that Chalabi, who is the commission's chairman, does not intervene in its work.
US interest
The US has much at stake in the Iraqi election, which will produce a new coalition government, since under an agreement struck by George W. Bush, Washington is committed to reducing its forces in the country from 98,000 to 50,000 by the end of August.
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