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Annan Defends Letter Warning of Fallouja Risk

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Times Staff Writer

Despite accusations of interference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that it was his duty to speak up about how an assault on Fallouja might increase insecurity and disrupt elections slated for January, though he recognized that the final decision belonged to Iraq.

“We know that obviously the Iraqi government is responsible for running its affairs. But we have the responsibility to assist and work with them on the elections, and so to express concern was our business,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not something that one should take as amiss.”

Annan warned in a private letter sent this week to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that a full-scale attack on Fallouja would fuel further divisions and instability in Iraq and undermine participation in the elections. He also expressed concern that an attack would cause more civilian casualties and short-circuit negotiations to get nationalists to join the political process.

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British and American spokesmen said the decision to use force in Fallouja was in the hands of the Iraqi government. In Brussels, Allawi said he found that in the letter, Annan seemed “confused.”

“I don’t know what he means by ‘not to attack,’ or ‘to attack,’ ” he told BBC radio. “What are the substitutes? I don’t know what pressure he has to bear on the insurgents. If he can stop the insurgents from inflicting damage and killing Iraqis, then he is welcome.”

The letter underlined a fundamental difference in philosophy between the U.N. and the U.S.-led coalition on how best to neutralize the insurgents and “win the hearts and minds” of Iraqis.

“This is a very difficult situation, and difficult choices have to be made,” Annan said. “We have extremist terrorists who have created an impossible situation for the average Iraqi.... So I can understand the desire and concern to want to deal with these people. We are in a process where one wants to pacify these hotspots, but at the same time one also wants to woo all Iraqis to participate in the process to make it as inclusive as possible.”

An attack on Fallouja that causes high civilian casualties may swing residents’ sympathies to the side of the insurgents, and cut off any prospect of bringing more moderate Sunni Muslim leaders into the elections, Annan said.

The letter, though private, was another in a recent series of declarations from Annan that put the world organization at odds with Washington. In a September interview, Annan said he thought the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq without the Security Council’s approval was “illegal.” Annan also said recently that he thought the Iraq war did not make the world safer.

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On Friday, he said that he congratulated President Bush on his electoral victory. But as much as the Bush administration may be frustrated by the U.N., officials at the world body are frustrated by its partnership of necessity. Just as the U.N. agreed to help rebuild a country from a war it didn’t back, it now finds itself trying to help organize elections in a context it believes to be counterproductive. And while the organization is being asked to take on more responsibility to make elections work in Iraq, officials fear it may be blamed if elections fail.

At the same time, Allawi and other Iraqi leaders are critical of the U.N. for sending only a few dozen staffers to Iraq and then second-guessing the government’s decisions from afar.

“The Iraqi sovereign government is dealing with a situation on the ground. They are probably the best judge of what is likely to work and what is not likely to work,” said Iraq’s ambassador to the U.N., Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, who will meet with Annan on Monday to protest the letter.

On Friday, Annan lifted the 35-person limit on U.N. staffers to be sent to Iraq to help set up elections, but declined to say how many would be deployed or when, citing security concerns. Annan said that election preparations appeared to be on track and that the U.N. was committed to making the balloting happen on time, but said Friday that he and his election experts disagreed with Iraq’s decision to allow its expatriates to vote in January.

Elections chief Carina Perelli told reporters that organizing one election within a tight timeframe was difficult enough -- including expatriate voters would be like organizing two. She added that it was costly, technically difficult and prone to fraud -- but they would do it if the government asked them to.

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