1) FIRSTHAND: A message from a soldier in Baqubah,
an hour north of Baghdad

2) Guard Unit to Deploy from Lockdown to War Zone
By Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
FORT DIX, N.J.
Sunday 19 September 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092004W.shtml

3) Attacks Disillusion Marines
By Mike Dorning
The Chicago Tribune
RAMADI, Iraq
Sunday 19 September 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092004W.shtml

4) U.S. Plans Year-End Drive to Take Iraqi Rebel Areas
By DEXTER FILKINS
BAGHDAD, Iraq
September 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/international/middleeast/19strategy.html?h
p

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) FIRSTHAND: A message from a soldier in Baqubah,
an hour north of Baghdad

[This message was sent to BRING THEM
HOME NOW!, a campaign whose mission is to
mobilize military families, veterans,
and GIs themselves to demand "an end to
the occupation of Iraq and other
misguided military adventures; and an
immediate return of all US troops
to their home duty stations," and whose home
page states: "Our troops are embroiled
in a regional quagmire largely of our
own government's making. These
military actions are not perceived as
liberations, but as occupations, and
our troops are now subject to daily
attacks. Meanwhile, without a clear
mission, they are living in conditions of
relentless austerity and hardship.
At home, their families are forced to
endure extended separations and
ongoing uncertainty." (Stan Goff, who has
hosted by UFPPC in Tacoma in March,
is a member of the coordinating committee
of Bring Them Home Now!) -- The
following piece was written on Wednesday and
posted Saturday; thanks to David
McDonald for posting it. --Mark]

http://ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1378

From SOUND OFF, a forum of Bring Them Home Now!
September 15, 2004 (posted Sept. 18)

http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/sound/main.html

Souls, Friends, and Conspirators,

The temperature dropped to sixty
degrees last night while I huddled in a ditch
near Diyala Bridge. The breeze off
the river crawled into my heart and the
sudden chill reflects my current mood.
I found out earlier that night that I
had been extended an additional two
months on top of my previous stretch. It
now appears that I will be in the service
until July and my original date of
release is coming up next month.
All this and my recent two-week taste of the
civilian world on leave is leaving me
empty and detached. It is so much
easier to live in slavery if you had
willingly accepted your fate. I am not
sure if my mental fortitude is prepared
for a whole extra year in oppression.
And, I still don't have a certain time
when I will be finished with this war.

Three soldiers in out unit have been
hurt in the last four days and the true
amount of casualties leaving Iraq are
unknown. The figures are much higher
than what is reported. We get awards
and medals that are supposed to make us
feel proud about our wicked assignment.
We feel privileged when we are given
the smallest perk. Like a dog that is
beaten everyday and then thankfully
adores its owner when he skips a day
of punishment. I have more trust with
some of the Iraqi locals than my own
command sometimes and I know that my
higher chain of command hates me for
my political opinions and my moral views.

I am called a "faggot pink-o" or a
"bleeding heart traitor." It doesn't take
a liberal to realize the moral wrongs
involved with this or any war. Why
should I feel ashamed of caring about
all of humanity even the people that
ignorantly hate me? Is wanting a better
standard of living for all the world
so negative? In a way, deeper than
sexuality, I love my friends and brothers
and for that I am a deviant of some kind.
Does every one buy into this Arnold
ideal of fear that they are not strong
enough so they have to over compensate
and become an asshole? I believe that
all weapons should be laid down by
choice of the individual. It is the same
fear I have of my bigot neighbor
that causes Americans to support a
war against a possible US threat. If we
are all responsible enough to handle
firearms, is it not sensible to allow
countries like Iran and N. Korea
nuclear weapons? If we think these countries
are less responsible than the drunk-
driving redneck or the crack-dealing
gangster, I think we need to take a
longer look at American society. Sure a
nuke can destroy the world, but a
automatic weapon can kill my daughter and
she is the world to me. I don't
believe that taking away people's rights is
the proper step to world peace,
but we overspend on national defense and cut
education when we need to be
more concerned about raising a generation of
problem solvers instead of mindless warriors.

So I finally find the drive to get
out and try to make a difference in the
world, and I am stuck freezing in
a Middle Eastern desert. What state will
the earth be in if I ever escape this
combat zone? What little changes I can
make I do through the networks I
have built up with my close friends? The
Bouncing Souls have given us
soldiers a voice and forum to express the
hardships and our feelings on the
Iraq occupation. All my friends, some new
and some old, listen and support
our efforts and they have my deepest respect
and thanks. I could not survive
this in any sane manner without the backing
of all of you. I can not promise
that I will have a positive effect on
current issues that plague our planet,
but I can promise I will never give up
if you never give up on me.

PEACE,

Heretic
near Baqubah, Iraq

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2) Guard Unit to Deploy from Lockdown to War Zone
By Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
FORT DIX, N.J.
Sunday 19 September 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092004W.shtml

FORT DIX, N.J. -- The 635 soldiers of a battalion of the South
Carolina National Guard scheduled to depart Sunday for a year or
more in Iraq have spent their off-duty hours under a disciplinary
lockdown in their barracks for the past two weeks.

The trouble began Labor Day weekend, when 13 members of
the 1st Battalion of the 178th Field Artillery Regiment went AWOL,
mainly to see their families again before shipping out. Then there
was an ugly confrontation between members of the battalion's
Alpha and Charlie batteries -- the term artillery units use instead
of "companies" -- that threatened to turn into a brawl involving
three dozen soldiers, and required the base police to intervene.

That prompted a barracks inspection that uncovered alcohol,
resulting in the lockdown that kept soldiers in their rooms
except for drills, barred even from stepping outside for a
smoke, a restriction that continued with some exceptions
until Sunday's scheduled deployment.

The battalion's rough-and-tumble experience at a base
just off the New Jersey Turnpike reflects many of the biggest
challenges, strains and stresses confronting the Guard and
Reserve soldiers increasingly relied on to fight a war 7,000
miles away.

This Guard unit was put on an accelerated training
schedule -- giving the soldiers about 36 hours of leave
over the past two months -- because the Army needs to
get fresh troops to Iraq, and there are not enough active-
duty or "regular" troops to go around. Preparation has been
especially intense because the Army is short-handed on
military police units, so these artillerymen are being quickly
re-trained to provide desperately needed security for convoys.
And to fully man the unit, scores of soldiers were pulled in
from different Guard outfits, some voluntarily, some on orders.

As members of the unit looked toward their tour, some
said they were angry, or reluctant to go, or both. Many
more are bone-tired. Overall, some of them fear, the unit
lacks strong cohesion -- the glue that holds units together
in combat.

"Our morale isn't high enough for us to be away for 18
months," said Pfc. Joshua Garman, 20, who, in civilian life,
works in a National Guard recruiting office. "I think a lot of
guys will break down in Iraq." Asked if he is happy that he
volunteered for the deployment, Garman said, "Negative.
No time off? I definitely would not have volunteered."

A series of high-level decisions at the Pentagon has come
together to make life tough for soldiers and commanders in
this battalion and others. The decisions include the Bush
administration's reluctance to sharply increase the size of
the U.S. Army. Instead, the Pentagon is relying on the National
Guard and Reserves, which provide 40 percent of the 140,000
U.S. troops in Iraq. Also, the top brass has concluded that
more military police are needed as security deteriorates and
the violent insurgency flares in ways that were not predicted
by Pentagon planners.

These soldiers will be based in northern Kuwait and will
escort supply convoys into Iraq. That is some of the toughest
duty on this mission, with every trip through the hot desert
bringing the possibility of being hit by roadside bombs,
rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire.

The drilling to prepare this artillery unit for that new role
has been intense. Except for a brief spell during Labor Day
weekend, soldiers have been confined to post and prevented
from wearing civilian clothes when off duty. The lockdown was
loosened to allow soldiers out of the barracks in off hours to
go to the PX, the gym and a few other places, if they sign out
and move in groups.

"There's a federal prison at Fort Dix, and a lot of us feel
the people in there have more rights than we do," said Spec.
Michael Chapman, 31, a construction worker from near
Greenville, S.C.

Some complaints heard during interviews with the soldiers
here last week centered on long hours and the disciplinary
measures -- both of which the battalion commander, Lt. Col.
Van McCarty, said were necessary to get the unit into shape
before combat.

Sgt. Kelvin Richardson, 38, a machinist from Summerville,
S.C., volunteered for this mission but says he now wishes he
had not and has misgivings about the unit's readiness.
Richardson is a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, in
which he served with the 1st Cavalry Division, an active-duty
"regular" unit. This battalion "doesn't come close" to that
division, he said. "Active-duty, they take care of the soldiers."

Pfc. Kevin Archbald, 20, a construction worker from Fort
Mill, S.C., who was transferred from another South Carolina
Guard unit, also worries about his cobbled-together outfit's
cohesion. "My last unit, we had a lot of people who knew each
other. We were pretty close." He said he does not feel that in the
178th. Here, he said, "I think there's just a lot of frustration."

The daily headlines of surging violence in Iraq -- where U.S.
forces crossed the 1,000-killed threshold last month -- were also
part of the stress heard in soldiers' comments.

"I think before we deploy we should be allowed to go home
and see our families for five days, because some of us might not
come back," said Spec. Wendell McLeod, 40, a steelworker from
Cheraw, S.C. "Morale is pretty low. . . . It's leading to fights and
stuff. That's really all I got to say."

McCarty, the commander, disagrees with those assessments.
Overall, he said, the unit's morale is not poor. "The soldiers all
have their issues to deal with, and some have dealt with it better
than others," he said in an interview in his temporary office.

The problem, he said, is that he has to play the hand dealt him --
of assembling a new unit and getting it to work together while
following a training schedule that has kept them going from
dawn to long after dark, seven days a week, since mid-July.

"We are not here for annual training and then go home" --
that is, the typical schedule for National Guard units in the past --
said McCarty, assistant deputy director of law enforcement for
the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in civilian
life. "We are here to prepare to go into a combat zone."

Some military leaders like to say that the best quality of life
is having one -- a view to which McCarty appears to subscribe.
"It is not my objective to win a popularity contest with my soldiers,"
he said. "My objective is to take them out and back home safely to
their families."

As for the barracks lockdown, he said, "I am not going to
apologize. . . . I did what I felt was necessary."

In the past, McCarty noted, members of Guard units usually
had years of service together. That has enabled Guard units to
compensate somewhat, using unit cohesion -- that is, mutual
understanding and trust -- to make up for having less training
time together than do active-duty units. But that was not the case
with this battalion. "We didn't have that degree of stabilization to
start with," he said.

He also contends that his case is hardly unusual nowadays.
"Other units have similar problems," he said. "Ours just make
more headlines." The disciplinary measures were covered by
some soldiers' hometown newspapers, perhaps because it is
one of the largest mobilizations of the South Carolina Guard
since Sept. 11, 2001.

Sgt. Maj. Clarence Gamble, who as the top noncommissioned
officer for the battalion keeps a close eye on morale and discipline,
said he does not see any big problems. "I get out and see troops
every day," he said. "From my talking to the troops, morale is
good right now."

Indeed, some members of the unit agree with this view.
"Overall, morale's good," said Sgt. John Mahaffey. "But of course
you're going to have some who, no matter if you gave them their
food on a gold platter, they'd still . . . whine." A car salesman
from Spartanburg, S.C., Mahaffey, 41, said he volunteered to
go to Iraq and is glad he did. "I'm looking forward to it," he said.
The unit is essentially ready to go, he said. "If you wait till
everything's perfect, you'll never get anything accomplished."

Gamble defended the lockdown that followed the fighting.
"I think that what we did at the time was something that we
needed to do to make sure that we had command and control
of the battalion," he said. He added, "I don't think it was a
detriment to morale, because it was short-lived."

He also says that unit cohesion is developing. "We knew it
was going to take some time to develop the chemistry.
And it's working."

As for volunteers who say they now regret it, "I think
when our deployment is over, people will have different
opinions."

Gamble, who at age 51 is a 33-year veteran of the
Guard, said he is not worried about putting an already
stressed unit into the cauldron of Iraq duty. "I haven't
ever been deployed before, myself," he said. But, he
concluded, "I feel like this unit will handle this well.
Once we get in-country and get into missions, I think
the stress will level off."

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) Attacks Disillusion Marines
By Mike Dorning
The Chicago Tribune
RAMADI, Iraq
Sunday 19 September 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092004W.shtml

RAMADI, Iraq - Marine Cpl. Travis Friedrichsen, a sandy-
haired 21-year-old from Denison, Iowa, used to take Tootsie
Rolls and lollipops out of care packages from home and give
them to Iraqi children. Not anymore.

"My whole opinion of the people here has changed. There
aren't any good people," said Friedrichsen, who says his first
instinct now is to scan even youngsters' hands for weapons.

The subtle hostility extends to Iraqi adults, evidence some
U.S. troops have second thoughts about their role here.

"We're out here giving our lives for these people," said Sgt.
Jesse Jordan, 25, of Grove Hill, Ala. "You'd think they'd show
some gratitude. Instead, they don't seem to care."

When new troops rotated into Iraq early in the spring, the
military portrayed the second stage of the occupation as a
peacekeeping operation focused at least as much on
reconstruction as on mopping up rebel resistance.

Even in strongholds of the Sunni insurgency such as
Ramadi, a restive provincial capital west of Baghdad, the
Marine Corps sent in its units with a mission to win over
the people as well as smite the enemy. Commanders worked
to instill sympathy for the local population through sensitivity
training and exhortations from higher officers.

Marines were ordered to show friendliness through "wave
tactics," including waving at people on the street.

Few spend much time waving these days as the hard reality
of frequent hit-and-run attacks, roadside bombs and exploding
mortars has left plenty of Marines, particularly grunts on the
ground, disillusioned and bitter.

Since the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, deployed in the
area six months ago, 34 of its members have died and more than
a quarter of the 1,000-member unit has been wounded.

Along with the heavy toll, the Marines cite other sources of
frustration. High among them is the scarcity of tips from Iraqis
on the locations of the roadside bombs that kill and maim Marines,
even though the explosives frequently are placed in well-trafficked
areas where bomb teams probably would be observed.

Sgt. Curtis Neill remembers a rocket-propelled grenade attack
on his platoon as it passed some shops one hot August day. When
the Marines responded, the attacker fled, but they found that he
had established a comfortable and obvious position to lie in wait.

There, in an alleyway beside the shops, was a seat and
ammunition for the grenade launcher - along with a pitcher of
water and a half-eaten bowl of grapes, said Neill, who was so
amazed that he took photos of the setup.

"You could tell the guy had been hanging out all day. It was
out in the open. Every single one of the guys in the shops could
tell the guy was set up to attack us," said Neill, 34, of Colrain, Mass.
"That's the problem. That's why I'm bitter toward the people."

Then there are the hostile glares that adults in the community
give to passing U.S. military patrols, and treachery from high-profile
allies, such as the provincial police chief who was arrested last month
amid strong suspicions that he was working with the insurgency.

"We're not taking any chances: Shoot first and ask questions later,"
said Lance Cpl. David Goward, 26, a machine gunner from Cloquet,
Minn. "We're a lot more dangerous now. I'm not going home in a
body bag, and neither is the person next to me."

Some Marines say the sense that their presence is unappreciated
calls into question the entire mission in Iraq, which they consider a
liberation that should be welcomed. But other Marines said their
support for the intervention is undiminished, as direct contact with
the enemy strengthens their conviction that the United States faces
threats that require decisive action.

Commanders acknowledge a shift in attitude toward Iraqis
among troops but insist it makes little difference in accomplishing
their mission.

The Marines are a disciplined fighting force and under orders to
treat Iraqis "with dignity," said Maj. Mike Wylie, the battalion
executive officer.

The acts of friendship that Marines undertook when they arrived
in Ramadi now in some cases heighten their resentment toward the
city's residents.

After a series of ambushes one April day that killed a dozen
Marines, Cpl. Jason Rodgers saw a familiar face among a group of
slain attackers. The dead Iraqi, who was lying inches from a grenade,
was a shopkeeper Rodgers had called on several times during foot
patrols, he said.

"I felt like I'd been betrayed, personally," said Rodgers, 22, of
Susanville, Calif. "I'd stood there, talking to him, shaking his hand,
giving his kid candy. And he'd been studying our moves the
whole time."


(c) Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) U.S. Plans Year-End Drive to Take Iraqi Rebel Areas
By DEXTER FILKINS
BAGHDAD, Iraq
September 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/international/middleeast/19strategy.html?h
p

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 18 - Faced with a growing insurgency and a
January deadline for national elections, American commanders in
Iraq say they are preparing operations to open up rebel-held areas,
especially Falluja, the restive city west of Baghdad now under
control of insurgents and Islamist groups.

A senior American commander said the military intended to take
back Falluja and other rebel areas by year's end. The commander
did not set a date for an offensive but said that much would
depend on the availability of Iraqi military and police units,
which would be sent to occupy the city once the Americans took it.

The American commander suggested that operations in Falluja
could begin as early as November or December, the deadline
the Americans have given themselves for restoring Iraqi
government control across the country.

"We need to make a decision on when the cancer of Falluja is
going to be cut out," the American commander said. "We would
like to end December at local control across the country."

"Falluja will be tough," he said.

At a minimum, the American commander said, local conditions
would have to be secure for voting to take place in the country's
18 provincial capitals for the election to be considered legitimate.
American forces have lost control over at least one provincial capital,
Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province, and have only a tenuous grip over a
second, Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad.
Other large cities in the region, like Samarra, are largely in the hands
of insurgents.

Senior officials at the United Nations are concerned that legitimate
elections might not be possible unless the security conditions here
change. Violence against American forces surged last month to its
highest level since the war began last year, with an average of 87
attacks per day. A string of deadly attacks in the past month continued
Saturday, with a car bombing that killed at least 19 people in the
northern city of Kirkuk. [Page 6.]

At the same time, the Americans and the Iraqi interim government
appear to be giving negotiations to disarm the rebels a final chance.
Members of the Mujahedeen Shura, the eight-member council in
control of Falluja, said they were planning to come to Baghdad on
Sunday to meet with Iraqi officials to talk about disarming the
rebels and opening the city to Iraqi government control.

"Although the Americans have lied many times, we are ready to
start negotiations with the Iraqi government," said Hajji Qasim
Muhammad Abdul Sattar, a member of the shura.

Dr. Ahmed Hardan, a Falluja doctor who will take part in the
negotiations, said that at least some members on the council might
be willing to strike a deal with the Americans.

Under the proposal to be discussed, Dr. Hardan said, the guerrillas
would turn over their heavy weapons and allow a military force
gathered from around Al Anbar Province to enter the city. That
unit would replace the Falluja Brigade, the local militia set up after
the fighting in April and which was composed almost entirely of
insurgents and former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
It was routed by the insurgents, and the Iraqi government
disbanded it this month.

The Iraqi government will also demand that the insurgents turn
over their heavy weapons and that foreign fighters leave the city.

Similar negotiations, also at the threat of force, appear to have
borne some fruit in the city of Samarra. American military forces
entered the town last week for the first time in months and are
hoping they can ultimately restore Iraqi government control there
before the elections.

Preparations for the Vote

The driving force behind the coming military operations is concern
that under the current security conditions, voting will not be
possible in much of the so-called Sunni triangle, the area
generally north and west of Baghdad that has generated most
of the violence against the American enterprise here.

Still, Iraqi and United Nations officials here say they have
begun preparations to hold the elections across the country
despite the chaotic security environment.

The Independent Iraqi Electoral Commission, set up here
after the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 28, has
begun preparing for the mammoth task of registering an
estimated 12 million Iraqi voters, beginning Nov. 1 in about
600 offices around the country, officials said.

Iraqi officials say it will be necessary to keep those offices
open for at least six weeks while the registrations are gathered,
requiring thousands of police officers and possibly troops to
protect them. Those plans have not yet been completed, but
American and British officials said the primary responsibility
for providing ballot security will fall to the Iraqi police, whose
record against the insurgents in southern and central Iraq has
been spotty at best.

Iraqi and United Nations officials say they are banking that
enthusiasm for the elections among ordinary Iraqis will help
persuade insurgents and other skeptical Iraqis to allow election
workers into most areas of the Sunni triangle.

The initial signs have not been encouraging. For example, the
Association of Muslim Scholars, the country's largest group of
Sunni clerics, said last week that it had decided against taking
part in the elections.

"As long as we are under military occupation, honest elections
are impossible," said Sheik Abdul Satar Abdul Jabbar, a member
of the association, which represents about 3,000 Sunni mosques
in the region.

"People will not come out to vote in this environment," Sheik
Jabbar said. "If the election goes forward anyway, the body that
will be elected will not represent the country."

Indeed, the violence in Iraq is giving rise to concerns that voting
held under the present conditions, with a possible large-scale
boycott by the Sunni Arabs, will render the results of such an
election suspect in the eyes of many Iraqis. If that happens,
some Iraqis say, the stage could be set for even more violence.

"Bad elections will open wounds rather than heal them," said
Ghassan al-Atiyyah, the director of the Iraqi Foundation for
Development and Democracy, an independent governance
group here. "If the Sunnis do not vote, then you could end
up with a polarized Parliament that could lead to civil war."

The senior American military official suggested that Falluja,
believed to be a haven for insurgents and terrorists, was in a
category all its own, and that while securing other cities like
Ramadi and Samarra might be achieved with relatively little
violence, Falluja could require a major military assault.

The exact timing of an assault on the city would probably
depend on whether there were sufficient numbers of Iraqi
soldiers who could join in the attack and, more important,
take over the city after the Americans fought their way in.

Training for an Assault

Thousands of Iraqi police officers and soldiers are taking part
in a huge American-led training effort, supported by an $800
million project to build bases and training camps. At the
moment, American officials say there are about 40,000
soldiers in the Iraqi National Guard, the force most likely
be deployed for action in Falluja.

Many of those soldiers do not have adequate equipment,
and they have little or no combat experience. American
commanders are concerned that the experience of April not
be repeated, when the Iraqi security forces largely disintegrated
in the face of Shiite and Sunni uprisings.

With preparations for the elections under way, American forces
have recently been stepping up military operations in areas where
they had ceded control to insurgents. American aircraft have
repeatedly struck targets in Falluja in recent weeks. Usually,
commanders have said the airstrikes were aimed at hide-outs
used by the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian
militant who has claimed responsibility for several of the deadliest
car bombings here.

On Friday, American forces started an operation in Ramadi, another
city in insurgent control.

An offensive on Falluja and in other cities in the Sunni triangle that
have slipped out of the grip of American forces would undoubtedly
test the political will of the interim government and of its prime
minister, Ayad Allawi. An initial assault by American marines on
Falluja was halted in April as Iraqi anger grew at the death of as
many as 600 Iraqis in the fighting.

At the time, Marine commanders said that they were perhaps two
days away from gaining control of the interior of the city, and that
they were ordered to halt by the political leadership in Washington.

A second assault on Falluja could be expected to be at least as deadly
as the first one. Witnesses from inside the city say the mujahedeen
groups are preparing for a big fight, in part by burying large bombs
along the main routes into the city.

But the American commander said he felt confident that things would
be different this time, largely because now, unlike in April, there was a
sovereign Iraqi government, and one that seemed willing to absorb the
political storm that such an assault was likely to set off.

"I am rather confident we are not going to take on something as
focused and important as Falluja without the endorsement and full
understanding of what we are going to get ourselves into and the
support of the Iraqi interim government," the American official said.

The American commander said cities like Ramadi and Samarra had
been allowed to slip into insurgents' hands largely by default, as the
Americans began to concentrate their limited resources on other
areas, like protecting the new government and critical pieces of
infrastructure.

"Offensive operations based on intelligence were a lower priority,"
the commander said.

Counting on Elections

For all of their worries, Iraqi and United Nations workers say
they are pushing ahead with plans to hold voting across the
country in January. To help the Iraqis with the job, the United
Nations has dispatched a team led by Carlos Valenzuela, who
has overseen 15 elections in places including Liberia, Haiti,
Angola and Cambodia.

Mr. Valenzuela said he was worried about the Iraqi elections,
especially if the violence prevents candidates from campaigning
and voters from registering. But he said in other violence-plagued
countries, a wide array of people usually want to vote, largely
because almost most everyone is unhappy with the status quo.

"People realize that they are stuck in a situation and that they
have to move on to something else," Mr. Valenzuela said.
"Elections can help achieve that."

Some Iraqis, too, believe that the prospect of elections could
help transform the security environment here, as people begin
to realize that the elections are inevitable and that they will
be honest and fair.

One of them is Abdul Hussein Hindawi, the chairman of the
Iraqi election commission. Mr. Hindawi believes that even
the Sunni Arabs, who thrived under Saddam Hussein but
who now find themselves a minority in the government,
may finally decide that an election is something they do
not want to miss.

"They look to their interests, first of all," Mr. Hindawi said.

An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed
reporting from Falluja for this article.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company