Leaders voice cautious approval for national vote
LONDON -- The day after Iraqis defied the threat of violence and voted by the millions, world leaders from Europe to the Middle East, many of whom had opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq, said yesterday the national election was a step forward.
But in some foreign capitals, there was foreboding over the Sunni Muslim minority's resistance to the emerging political process.
The apparent high voter turnout among Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds in the north prompted even the harshest critics of the US role in Iraq, including France, Germany, and Russia, to express approval.
President Jacques Chirac, who led a diplomatic campaign against the war, told President Bush by phone the vote was ''an important step in the political reconstruction of Iraq" and declared the turnout and organization a success.
Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, one of the more vocal opponents of what is widely perceived in Europe as the Bush administration's dangerous and unilateral approach in Iraq, said he believed Berlin was right to have opposed this war, but wanted to look to the future and help Iraqi people establish a democracy.
''The challenge of putting Iraq on a stable democratic footing is one we must all take on together -- within the political limits we have set," Fischer told reporters in Brussels. He also reaffirmed Germany's refusal to send troops to Iraq.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the election as ''a step in the right direction" and told his Cabinet to work for Iraq's future stability.
Conservative commentators in Washington had dubbed Paris, Berlin, and Moscow the ''non-nein-nyet coalition" for opposing the US-led war. The diplomatic fallout from that bitter debate has left the trans-Atlantic relationship badly frayed.
But the comments yesterday from Berlin, Paris, and Moscow seem to suggest the possibility for a warming of relations with the United States just weeks before Bush is to arrive on a diplomatic mission in Europe.
On Feb. 22 and 23, Bush is scheduled to visit Germany and the NATO and European Union headquarters in Brussels -- the first foreign visit of his second term.
In London, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been Bush's staunchest ally in the war despite overwhelming opposition, the reaction to the ballot was positive.
But the dangers in Iraq were also laid bare for the British government as the Arab satellite television channel Al Jazeera aired video footage taken by insurgents purporting to show the downing of a
The British government said it remained unclear what caused the crash.
Most of the caution expressed yesterday came from Europe's newspapers and television commentators, who noted that despite the successful elections, the threat of civil war still looms.
The leading French daily newspaper, Le Monde, wrote in its lead editorial: ''Should we celebrate these elections? Yes, unreservedly. . . . We must not forget that Iraq had never known free elections before, not even under the monarchy. At the same time, who can fail to see that these polls took place in the worst possible conditions."
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief and a critic of Washington's Mideast policy, praised the election as a historic turning point for the Iraqi people, and vowed that Europeans would support them.
Last week the EU Commission offered to pump a further $260 million into the Iraqi economy. The EU also expects to approve by Feb. 22 a plan to train some 700 to 800 senior Iraqi police officers and magistrates a year.
''Despite the many difficulties that lie ahead, the elections mark progress towards a transition to a democratic, free, and peaceful Iraq," Solana added.
In the Middle East, the vote was greeted by the Arab public as a victory for the Iraqi people, and in most Arab capitals leaders seemed to reluctantly agree.
Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary general, worried that the threat of a civil war may loom larger in the aftermath of an election that saw little participation by the Sunni Muslim minority, which wielded disproportionate power before Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled.
Still, Moussa said the elections in Iraq and the elections earlier this month for a new Palestinian leader should be ''mentioned together" as part of an ''exercise toward democracy and there is nothing wrong with that. . . . The elections were a step in the right direction, absolutely."
Jordan's King Abdullah, a close ally of Washington, said, ''I think what we saw yesterday in Iraq is a positive thing. I think this is a thing that will set a good tone for the Middle East and I am optimistic."
In an interview with CNN, Abdullah added, ''People are waking up, [Arab] leaders understanding that they have to push reform forward and I don't think there is any looking back."
Imad Mustafa, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, was asked on CNN if Syria felt threatened by the success of the elections in Iraq and the idea that democracy will be exported to countries like Syria, where the Ba'ath Party has maintained an autocratic grip on power.
''We support any process that will help the Iraqi people reestablish their institutions," Mustafa answered. But he added, ''We believe the presence of US troops in our region is not positive and has helped destabilize the region."
''We are undergoing serious reforms" in Syria, he said, hastening to add, ''but we do not want a bath of bloodshed in our country, or the destruction of invading troops."
Globe correspondent Sarah Liebowitz contributed to this story. Material from wire services was used.
