Secretary of State Colin Powell sees the situation in Iraq "getting
worse" as planned elections approach, and the top U.S. military
commander for Iraq says he expects more violence ahead. Their comments
Sunday followed a week in which President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi spoke optimistically about the situation despite the
beheadings of two more Americans and the deaths of dozens of people in
car bombings. Powell said the insurgency is only becoming more violent
as planned January elections near. "It's getting worse," he said on
ABC's "This Week." "They are determined to disrupt the election. They
do not want the Iraqi people to vote for their own leaders in a free,
democratic election." Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told
Congress on Friday that the elections must be held throughout the
country, including areas gripped by violence. But Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld said that if insurgents prevent Iraqis from voting
in some areas, a partial vote would be better than none at all. Asked
about Rumsfeld's comments, Powell repeated the State Department's
assertion that all Iraqis must have the chance to vote if the election
is to be credible. "You know, there will be polling stations that are
shot at," he said. "There will be insurgents who will still be out
there who will try to keep people from voting." [more 
]
- Tony Blair admits evidence about WMD was wrong but insists he was right to remove Saddam Hussein [more ] and [more ]
- The Massachusetts Senator: Kennedy Denounces Bush Policies as Endangering the World [more ]
- Who Wrote Allawi's Speech? No one knows who wrote the speech that Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi
delivered before the joint meeting of Congress last week. However, the
Washington Post [here ]
suspects that Allawi may have just gone "to the White House Web site
and combed through some of President Bush's speeches." Check out some
of the similarities. As Josh Marshall commented at the time: "Is Prime
Minister Allawi actually part of the Bush campaign? Or is he registered
as a 527?" [more ]