Iraqi minister warns on election safety ('no plan' yet)

Iraq's interim defense minister said on Tuesday that he cannot guarantee safety for voters in the country's elections due in January 30.

"You ask me as defense minister, will I be able to provide safety for candidates and voters? I say no, I have no plan until now," Hazem Sha'alan was quoted as saying.

"The Iraqi citizen doesn't know what elections are and doesn't know who the candidates are or who the voter is."

Sha'alan said he planned to run as an independent candidate in the elections for a transitional national assembly.
........
1985 Sha'alan was forced to leave the country as a result of his opposition to the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, before that he was an inspector general of Iraq's Real Estate Bank until.

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5709

also covered in WaTimes, UPI
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5709

Flowers and candy, don't ya know.

~snip~
Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said insurgents had moved from Fallujah and Babil province, south of Baghdad, to the capital. But, he told U.S.-funded al Hurra television: "We have a comprehensive plan similar to the Fallujah operation ... There is great operation planned in Babil."


The government says it will quell the Sunni insurgency before an election in January.


But asked about his ministry's plans for election security, Shalaan said: "We do not have any plan yet, but when we approach the election stages we will have a plan."

~snip~

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041120/ts_nm/iraq_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1007790#1008805