Attack on Iraq Interior Ministry kills 21 (AP) Updated: 2006-01-09 22:20
Referring to the Dec. 15 elections, he said: "At the time, it was very clear
to everyone that the crusader enemy was losing, and then you threw a rope to
save him."
Al-Zarqawi accused the Islamic Party and Sunnis of collaborating with the
United States and said those who voted in the parliamentary elections were
"hypocrites."
He asked for divine punishment: "God, curse the leaders of the Islamic Party
and those who collaborated with them."
He said the insurgents could have disrupted the elections, "but we did not do
it to avoid killing some of the Sunnis who were confused" over whether to take
part.
He also said the United States' announcement last month that it will withdraw
some troops from Iraq this year was a victory for the Islamic forces.
Three senior members of the Islamic party declined to respond to al-Zarqawi's
statement.
Election results will be released after the four-day Islamic feast of Eid
al-Adha, which begins Tuesday, said Hussein Hindawi, a member of Iraq's
electoral commission.
Officials on Monday canceled a news conference where they had hoped to
announce more preliminary results, saying they were still auditing the results
from about 50 ballot boxes and wanted to announce all results at once.
The leader of Iraq's main Sunni Arab political group said after meeting
President Jalal Talabani on Sunday that significant headway had been made in
forming a government of national unity.
"Talabani and I have an identical point of view regarding the formation of a
national unity government based on consensus," Adnan al-Dulaimi said.
Al-Dulaimi confirmed that Iraq's two Kurdish leaders, Talabani and Kurdistan
regional President Massoud Barzani, have been mediating with other groups to
form a coalition government.
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