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KLMNO

THE WORLD

Panel contests election results

In Iraq, move to oust 6 candidates could give edge to Maliki’s bloc

by Leila Fadel

baghdad — An Iraqi commis- sion that removes government workers who are loyalists to the outlawed Baath Party announced Monday that it would contest the results of the March 7 parliamen- tary elections, a move sure to cre- ate further chaos in the after- math of balloting that hardened Iraq’s sectarian divide. The Accountability and Justice Commission, run by two Shiite candidates, said that six people with loyalties to Saddam Hus- sein’s Baath Party won seats; the commission wants them and their votes thrown out. That could also change the

overall outcome of the election, cutting into the thin lead held by secular Shiite Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi- ya bloc over incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has already vowed to challenge the results. It could give Maliki the edge again, making it easier for him to claim the right to form Iraq’s new government. Allawi, himself a former prime minister, drew much of his sup- port from Sunni Arabs who see him as less sectarian than other Shiite leaders. If the results in- volving the six candidates, at least two of which are from Alla- wi’s bloc, are thrown out, Sunni Arabs could feel cheated and deem the election illegitimate, of- ficials said. “It would be civil war, absolute- ly no doubt,” said Falah al-Naqib, a member of the Iraqiya political bloc who won a seat. “I think the United States and other allies should find a solution for this problem. Otherwise, we’re seri- ously going for a civil war, and this time, it’s a big mess.” When the commission barred more than 400 candidates in Jan- uary for alleged Baathist loyal-

ties, political blocs replaced many of them. Just before the elections, more than 50 replace- ment candidates were also dis- qualified. With little time, the electoral commission then decid- ed to allow the people to run and deal with the issue later. Ali al-Lami, executive director of the Accountability and Justice Commission, and a losing Shiite candidate, blamed Iraq’s elector- al commission for bowing to the pressure from the United Nations and the United States to allow the candidates to run in the first place. One of the winnerswas Na- jim al-Harbi, a top vote-getter in Diyala province despite being de- tained by forces said to be loyal to Maliki before the election. The commission is appealing the re- sults through Iraq’s judicial sys- tem. “Even the votes that these can-

didates have won will be can- celled — they will not be given to their parties or coalitions,” said Lami, who was detained by the U.S. military in 2008 and accused of involvement in bombings in Baghdad. He has denied taking part and was released last year. “This goes for all 52 disqualified candidates, some of whose votes have been given to their parties — and they must, by law and consti- tution, be canceled.” Officials from Iraqiya inter-

preted the move as the latest at- tempt by Maliki and other rivals to rob Allawi of his narrow lead. Allawi represents a new power structure of secular politics in Iraq, where political might has largely been in the hands of Shiite religious parties and the Kurds. Many Shiites worry that Alla-

wi’s bloc is the vehicle for the out- lawed Baath Party to return. Maliki’s allies deny that this is an effort to garner more seats for themselves. “If that happens, that’s good luck for us,” said Hajim al-Hassa- ni, a spokesman for Maliki’s State of Law bloc. “What do you ex- pect? Everyone is going to accuse the others. At the end, they have to build a coalition to form the

MUHANNAD FALA’AH/GETTY IMAGES

Iraqis celebrated election results Saturday that gave a two-seat margin to former prime minister Ayad Allawi’s party over the ruling bloc.

government whether they’re number one or number two in the parliament.” Iraq’s highest court recently

clarified an ambiguous part of the constitution, ruling that ei- ther the largest electoral bloc or the largest merger of one or more groups after the election would form the government. Any politi- cal group will need the majority — 163 seats — of the next parlia- ment to approve their cabinet and top executives. Also Monday, in a sign of the violence Iraqis fear will overtake the nation as political battles en- sue, two car bombs ripped through the holy southern city of Karbala. At least five people were killed and 64 wounded in the at- tacks, said Salim Kadhim, the spokesman of the health depart- ment in the province. The simul- taneous blasts targeted an emer- gency service center and the edu- cation department, officials said.

fadell@washpost.com

Special correspondent Saad Sarhan contributed to this report from Najaf, Iraq.

AHMED AL-HUSSEINI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

At least five Iraqis died in Karbala on Monday in simultaneous blasts targeting social service providers.

Panel: Firms need U.S. guidance to reduce contractors in Iraq

by Dana Hedgpeth

The U.S. government is likely

paying contractors millions of dollars for unnecessary work in Iraq because the military is not giving companies clear enough guidance about reducing their employees, officials on the Com- mission on Wartime Contracting said Monday. There are roughly 102,000 con-

tractors in Iraq, and each con- tracted worker can cost the gov- ernment thousands of dollars a month, according to federal audi- tors. Commissioners said they were concerned that the U.S.

military was not providing con- tractors with key information to help them synchronize their ef- forts with the drawdown of com- bat forces. There are about 98,000 troops

in Iraq, but that figure is expected to drop to 50,000 by August. At that time, the Pentagon estimates that the number of contract em- ployees in the country will still exceed 70,000 — about half the count in January last year. “Conducting the drawdown of

forces . . . is not a simple task like turning down a thermostat,” said Michael Thibault, co-chairman of the commission. “Thousands of contractor employees must be re-

assigned or released. Hundreds of military bases have to be closed or handed over to the Iraq- is. Millions of items of equip- ment, whether military or ac- quired by contractors and now government-owned, must be moved, donated or scrapped.” The commission, which was appointed in 2008 to look at the use of government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, questioned officials from Houston-based KBR at a hearing Monday about whether they were reducing their work force in a cost effective and timely way. Under a $38 billion contract, KBR provides a variety of logistics services, from run-

ning dining halls to doing laun- dry and transporting supplies for U.S. troops.

Auditors for the Defense De-

partment said late last year that KBR could save $193 million from January to August this year by reducing its workforce. But, in a new report, auditors said that KBR’s plans for a drawdown dur- ing the same time period would save only $27 million. KBR officials said they need

“written contractual direction” from the U.S. military about its plans to reduce troops so that it can staff accordingly. Douglas Horn, a KBR vice president of operations, told

DIGEST

PAKISTAN

Corruption cases ordered reopened

Pakistan’s Supreme Court or- dered the government on Mon- day to reopen a slew of corrup- tion cases within 24 hours, in- cluding at least two against the president, escalating tension with the government. The two branches have been at odds since President Asif Ali Zar- dari was elected in 2008, and some analysts think there has been political motivation behind the court’s push to revive cases that had been covered by an am- nesty protecting politicians. Tension between the two sides has been a concern for Washing- ton, which wants the government to stay focused on battling Tali- ban and al-Qaeda militants who attack U.S. and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. “Take all the petitions and all the cases from A to Z and revive them by tomorrow,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry ordered the government during a court hearing Monday. “The law has to take its course.” His com- ments came more than three months after the court ruled that the amnesty issued by Zardari’s successor, Gen. Pervez Mushar- raf, was unconstitutional. It cov- ered thousands of cases against politicians and bureaucrats dat- ing back to the 1990s. Some of the cases have been re-

opened, but the court’s actions Monday seem to indicate it be- lieves the government is dragging its feet on others.

— Associated Press

Restrictions continue for nuclear scientist

A Pakistani court on Monday maintained restrictions on a nu- clear scientist who allegedly leaked atomic weapons secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. The case, involving A.Q. Khan, is being watched closely in the United States and other Western nations that fear he may be a pro- liferation risk. The Lahore High Court ruled

that Khan was still not allowed to talk about nuclear weapons tech- nology and must inform security agencies before he leaves his house so they can accompany him wherever he goes, according to his attorney, Ali Zafar. The court dismissed another

petition filed by the government asking that Khan be questioned over a recent report in The Wash- ington Post based on an account allegedly written by Khan that said Iran had tried to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan in the late 1980s. Zafar said his client had never spoken to The Post and had presented an affidavit in court saying that. The Post inde- pendently verified Khan’s ac- count. Government officials say that

ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIA

An autorickshaw was set afire during fighting Monday between crowds of angry Hindus and Muslims in Hyderabad. More than 75 people have been injuried in similar incidents in other southern India locales.

security around Khan is for his safety, but others say the military and intelligence agencies restrict his movement because they fear he might implicate them in past nuclear proliferation.

— Associated Press

BURMA

Opposition says it will boycott election

In a bold gamble, the party of

Myanmar’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, decid-

ed Monday to boycott the first election in two decades in the military-ruled country, saying it would carry on its struggle for de- mocracy even if it were officially disbanded. The decision by the National League for Democracy, approved

Turkey reluctant on Iranian

sanctions: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he did not favor imposing economic sanc- tions to pressure Iran into show- ing it does not have a nuclear weapons program. Erdogan said Turkey had not reached a firm de- cision on how it would vote in the U.N. Security Council on a U.S.- backed sanctions resolution.

— Reuters

by a unanimous vote of the 113 ex- ecutive members, spotlights the question of the election’s credibil- ity. The NLD won the most parlia- mentary seats in the last election in 1990, but the military refused to honor the results. The party said that new laws guiding the election are undemo- cratic and would bar Suu Kyi from participating or even being a member of the party she helped found 22 years ago after a failed uprising against military rule. The boycott could undermine the junta’s claims that the elec- tion represents a step forward in its “roadmap for democracy.” The reaction of the international community, which has already expressed doubt over the fairness of the election, could be crucial in determining whether voting will proceed smoothly. The junta hopes that holding

the election will ease pressure for political reform and accommoda- tion with the country’s pro-de- mocracy movement.

— Associated Press

commissioners that while troop levels will come down, the com- pany still has to “support those service members who remain.” KBR has said that it expects to have 30,000 employees in Iraq by late summer of this year, com- pared with more than 60,000 in March last year. Lt. Gen. James Pillsbury, depu-

ty commanding general of the U.S. Army Material Command, which helps to oversee the mili- tary’s contracting work in Iraq, asserted that the drawdown of contractors in Iraq is on track. But he said that moving person- nel and equipment out of Iraq is a massive, complex job, with “situ-

ations on the ground that are somewhat fluid.” The “magnitude and scope of

the Iraq drawdown is unprec- edented,” Pillsbury said, noting that there are more than 341 fa- cilities; 263,000 soldiers, Defense Department civilians and con- tractor employees; 83,000 con- tainers; 42,000 vehicles; 3mil- lion equipment items; and roughly $54 billion in assets that will ultimately be removed from Iraq.

Pillsbury said that the effort is

“equivalent, in personnel terms alone, of relocating the entire population of Buffalo, N.Y.”

hedgpethd@washpost.com

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