Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Iraqis call for boycott of 'fake' elections

A group of national, political and religious groups in Iraq, including
the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), have decided to boycott the
elections due to be held early next year.
The AMS said in a statement that the elections posed grave risks to
the future of Iraq as it would undermine Iraq's sovereignty and
territorial integrity. 
The signatories of the statement include Imam Khalesi University, AMS,
the National Trend Movement, Iraqi National Foundational Conference,
Iraqi Turkomen Front and the Christian Democratic Party.
Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur al-Samarrai, a member of the AMS, told Aljazeera:
"The AMS, the Iraqi National Foundational Conference and other groups
describe the upcoming elections under US occupation as a farce and
that it will not be truly representative neither will it express the
ambitions of the Iraqi people," al-Samarrai said.
'Useless elections'
The announcement was made because of the "massacre of the people of
Falluja and the collective punishment with wanton destruction meted
out by the US," he said. 
 
The AMS is boycotting elections in 
protest of the civilian toll in Falluja
 
When asked about other groups who have announced they would
participate in the elections, al-Samarrai responded: "Everyone is
entitled to their opinions and they are free to express them."
Al-Samarrai, however, added: "We, the AMS and other groups, believe
the elections under US occupation are useless, those occupiers want
everything to go the way they wish," he added.  
"What is happening now in Falluja is appalling and highly
unacceptable."
"I met a delegation of Falluja citizens on Wednesday," he said.
Humanitarian disaster
"They told me that the city of Falluja was practically on fire with so
many people killed and in most cases left to die," al-Samarrai said.
US-led forces have also barred
humanitarian aid from Falluja
 
"Among them are young children, the elderly and in some instances even
infants," he added.  
Al-Samarrai also claimed that US forces in Falluja were preventing any
humanitarian assistance from reaching the needy civilians caught in
the city.
"How can we hold elections under such conditions?" 
"The Falluja delegation calls on [interim Iraqi Prime Minister] Iyad
Allawi's government and all US-related international organizations to
impose pressure on the US occupation forces to halt all military
operations in Falluja for at least 12 hours," al-Samarrai said. 
The people of Falluja say they need a minimum of 12 hours to allow at
least five doctors to enter the city in order to treat the wounded,
evacuate bodies and bury the martyrs (those killed during US pounding
of the city).
US withdrawal
 
The AMS says the US should 
announce a withdrawal date
 
"If the US occupation forces have set a date for their withdrawal from
the country, there will be a clear reason for all these organizations
to approve and support the elections despite the mystery of their
mechanism and the current events," al-Samarrai said.   
"We have repeatedly called on the US for clarify on its agenda,
setting at least a date for withdrawal, even if it is after four or
five years," he said.   
"All the Iraqi organizations and resistance groups have on numerous
occasions requested the US to announce their withdrawal date," he
added.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/486E9BE0-290C-4146-84A1-D1D72ACF671C.htm

           Germania. Catturata "la banda dei nonni", rapinatori di banche
ultrasettantenni
 
 I tre uomini fermati sono stati trovati in possesso di numerose armi,
comprese alcune granate
 
 Le unita' speciali della polizia tedesca hanno oggi arrestato in flagranza
di reato, durante l'ennesima rapina a una banca di Menden, nella zona
occidentale del paese, una banda di rapinatori formata da tre uomini di 63,
72 e 74 anni. La polizia e' convinta che la 'banda dei nonni' dal 1999 abbia
compiuto 6 rapine a mano armata con un bottino di circa 400mila euro, ma
c'e' il sospetto che gli anziani rapinatori siano coinvolti in altri colpi
che hanno fruttato complessivamente un bottino di 1,3 milioni di euro.
Il Corriere della Sera
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