http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0501160294jan16,1,2642078.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=2&cset=trueWASHINGTON -- Two weeks before Iraq is scheduled to hold its first election since the fall of Saddam Hussein, violence has disrupted virtually every step of the electoral process in some of the nation's most populous areas, raising serious questions about the election's credibility both within Iraq and in the international community.
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Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and top U.S. military commanders have conceded in the past two weeks that parts of the country are likely to be too dangerous to allow voting. Those statements are among many signs of revised expectations in the face of Iraq's intensifying violence and ethnic or sectarian fragmentation.
`There may be other merits'
"They will not be free, fair and credible elections by any standard, but there may be other merits," said Hrair Balian, former head of democracy efforts at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which the U.S. praised for bringing credibility to elections worldwide.
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