Baghdad, Iraq – Sunni Arab politicians stepped up demands Sunday for an end to U.S. and Iraqi military operations, saying they threaten Sunni participation in next month’s elections – a key U.S. goal.
Meanwhile, the U.S. command announced the deaths of three more American troops.
Also, about 1,100 Iraqi lawyers said they withdrew from Saddam Hussein’s defense team over the slayings of two colleagues representing co-defendants of the ousted leader. The main attorneys for Hussein and his seven co-defendants had already threatened to boycott the next trial session Nov. 28.
U.S. commanders have said offensives, especially those in the western province of Anbar near Syria, are aimed at encouraging Sunni Arabs to vote in the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections without fear of intimidation by insurgents. However, several major Sunni Arab political groups insisted Sunday that such operations risk keeping Sunni turnout low because civilians are displaced by the fighting or will be too frightened to go to the polls.
In a statement Sunday, the U.S. command said two Marines were killed the day before by a bomb west of Baghdad and an American soldier died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq. The latest deaths brought to at least 2,065 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
U.S. officials hope the high number of Sunni Arab groups running in the elections will induce the insurgency to stop fighting.
