Powell worried about post-election Iraq

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050109/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpowell&cid=1514&ncid=1480


WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) admitted he is worried about the future of Iraq (news - web sites) but said the United States could consider its mission there accomplished once a representative government and an Iraqi security force are in place.


Asked Sunday if he was concerned about elections deepening the conflict in Iraq, Powell said: "I think we all are worried about what's going to happen after the elections. But the elections are a necessary next step."


The January 30 vote will neither end the insurgency nor heal divisions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, but "those dangers don't go away by postponing or putting off an election," Powell said, according to an advance transcript of an interview with ABC's "This Week" program.


"We have to move in a direction where the Iraqi people have the opportunity to choose how they will be governed. What is the alternative to no election? Just continue going along with an appointed government? No, we need this election," Powell said.


He refused to consider a scenario in which the insurgency escalates due to Sunni Muslims feeling shut out of the election.