http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO643747.htm
Iraq insurgents say election truce won't last
By Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi secular insurgents and Islamist militants said on Friday they would soon resume attacks on U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies, saying they had only observed an election truce to let fellow Sunni Arabs vote.
Both Saddam Hussein loyalists and religious militants said the insurgency would rage until U.S. troops leave Iraq.
"As long as the occupation exists along with those agents who brought it, we will continue our armed struggle," said Abu Muyasir, 52, a former member of Saddam's Baath party who is a local guerrilla leader in Falluja, west of Baghdad.
He said rebels would also remove politicians such as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a leader in the ruling Shi'ite bloc.
Iraq held a largely peaceful election on Thursday for the first full-term, four-year parliament since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam and his Sunni Arab-dominated system in 2003.
Insurgents launched many attacks during a Jan. 30 poll for an interim assembly, killing 40 people. This time around they staged only limited violence that caused minimal disruption.
Minority Sunni Arabs also took part on Thursday after their absence from the January poll swept Shi'ites and Kurds to power.
Despite their hostility to the U.S.-backed political process, insurgents urged Sunnis to vote this time and vowed to protect them from Islamist militants said on Friday they would soon resume attacks on U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies, saying they had only observed an election truce to let fellow Sunni Arabs vote.
Both Saddam Hussein loyalists and religious militants said the insurgency would rage until U.S. troops leave Iraq.
"As long as the occupation exists along with those agents who brought it, we will continue our armed struggle," said Abu Muyasir, 52, a former member of Saddam's Baath party who is a local guerrilla leader in Falluja, west of Baghdad.
He said rebels would also remove politicians such as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a leader in the ruling Shi'ite bloc.
Iraq held a largely peaceful election on Thursday for the first full-term, four-year parliament since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam and his Sunni Arab-dominated system in 2003.
Insurgents launched many attacks during a Jan. 30 poll for an interim assembly, killing 40 people. This time around they staged only limited violence that caused minimal disruption.
Minority Sunni Arabs also took part on Thursday after their absence from the January poll swept Shi'ites and Kurds to power.
Despite their hostility to the U.S.-backed political process, insurgents urged Sunnis to vote this time and vowed to protect them from Islamist militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who leads al Qaeda in Iraq.
WARNING TO AMERICANS
That was encouraging for Iraqi and U.S. officials hoping to draw Sunni Arabs into politics and undermine the insurgency. But the Falluja rebels insisted their struggle would go on.
"This does not mean stopping our holy war activities. We promise the coming days will be tough on the Americans and their supporters in the Iraqi army," said a local 48-year-old leader in Muhammad's Army, an Iraqi group whose members once served in Saddam's intelligence services.
Falluja, a former rebel stronghold 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, was devastated by a U.S. military offensive last year. But insurgents still have a presence around the town and U.S. officers have said they expect guerrillas to try to return.
Abu Muyasir said Iraq's U.S.-backed government was bent on removing all remnants of Saddam's Baath party.
"If we abandon our weapons and resistance and we try to enter politics then de-Baathification is waiting for us. We will become cattle," he said.
Iraqi security officials say ex-Baathists are leading the insurgency while a small number of foreign Arab Islamist militants carry out spectacular suicide bombings.
In Ramadi, just west of Falluja, a 38-year-old leader of the Islamic Army, Abu Qatada, said insurgents would not rest until they had kicked out the Americans and their Iraqi "agents".
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