http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-vote6sep06,1,1760673,print.story?coll=la-home-headlinesIraq remains on course to hold landmark elections in January, but violence could force authorities to exclude hotspots such as the western city of Fallouja from voting, a top U.S. general said here Sunday.
Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, operations chief of more than 150,000 mostly U.S. troops here, said in an interview that the "cancer" of anti-American militancy in places such as Fallouja would not derail the national elections. A "contingency" plan, Metz said, is to bypass Fallouja — and perhaps other violent enclaves — and concentrate on ensuring electoral security in Baghdad and other population centers where hostility is lower.
"We'd have elections before we let one place like Fallouja stop
elections," said Metz, the No. 2 U.S. military official here. "The rest of the country can go on about a process that heads right for an election."
Still, Metz cautioned that the participation of Iraq's three largest cities — Baghdad, Mosul in the north and Basra in the south — was essential to any election.
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