Election Boycott in Iraq

Juan Cole reports on the election boycott announced by forty-seven Iraqi poltical parties,

including many with a religious base, have announced that they will boycott the planned January elections. They met at the Umm al-Qura mosque in Baghdad under the auspices of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars and its allies among Sunni fundamentalists, but they were joined by 8 Shiite parties and one Christian one. The Iraqi Turkmen Front and the People's Union Party (Communist) also joined in the boycott.

It would appear the the storming of Fajulla has not made the January election anymore likely. He also reports that violence is increasing throughout the country.

Even with all the massive violence going on in the country, some 3,000 angry Iraqis demonstrated in front of the Green Zone on Wednesday, demanding the release of al-Hasani's followers. AP said, that Hassani's ' spokesman Maath al-Zargawi told The Associated Press . . . [that] the seven had been arrested from Ayatollah al-Hassani's offices in Karbala, Amarah, Shamiya, and Diwaniya . . . "We call on the coalition forces to free them," Zargawi said. He said the office did not know the reason for their arrests. '

See my post at MEJ on some disturbing intelligence from Falluja.