Iraq will not be dragged back to past: Powell – What is the future?
Preeti Subramanium,  Special Correspondent
July 31, 2004

US secretary of state Colin Powell said today Washington would stand firmly with Iraq’s interim government as it rebuilds the country and would not let guerrillas or kidnappers drag Iraq back into the past. 

So what will happen now! It can end up in a prolonged fight for dominance between US and Iraqi guerillas. Both sides are equally strong. In conventional warfare there is no comparison but in actuality the insurgents at this time are showing equal might. The problem is that Iraqi population is not really in favor of the new Government or the US backed Iraqi administration.

The key lies in Baath party operatives. If by any means US can bring those Baathists back into their camp, US can win people of Iraq in no time. That is exactly what happened in Falluja. 

As time goes by US will realize, like Chalabi US needs to abandon expatriates who lost touch with Iraqi people and bring back local leaders into play. A fair election will show that too!

Sooner local leaders are brought into picture, sooner Iraq will calm down!

According to Reuters, Powell, the most senior US official to visit Iraq since sovereignty was handed to an interim government last month, arrived a day after the delay of a major conference to chart Iraq's political future and as a hostage execution deadline loomed.

“Those who are setting off these bombs, those who are conducting these kidnappings are doing it for the purpose of returning to the past, returning to the days of a Saddam Hussein-like regime,” Powell told a news conference in Baghdad.

“I don't think the Iraqi people want to go back to the past and in order for them not to go back to the past the US and its coalition partners will stand firm with the new government, the sovereign government of Iraq and its leaders.” After a brief lull in violence following the handover of power on June 28, Iraq has faced an increasingly indiscriminate spate of kidnappings and been rocked by a series of suicide attacks, the most recent killing 70 people north of Baghdad.

“The bad guys, the enemy, the army of the darkness, is getting more helpless and hopeless. That’s why they are stepping up (these actions),” Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar said after his meeting earlier with Powell.

Fighting between insurgents and the 160,000 mainly American troops in the US-led multinational force has also continued, particularly around the Sunni hotspots of Falluja, west of the capital, and Samarra, to the north.
At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 13 wounded in Falluja in fighting between gunmen and US forces that erupted late yesterday, a doctor at Falluja hospital said. US forces responded with aircraft and artillery strikes. 

Powell said the US would speed up disbursement of some $18 billion in American aid to create more jobs in Iraq.
“Reconstruction and security are two sides of the same coin,” Powell said. He also urged others not to be deterred from the rebuilding effort, despite kidnappings aimed at pressuring foreign governments and companies not to work in Iraq.