On one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. Army in Iraq for months, Annan said he would send a mission to see whether direct polls would be possible before the United States hands back power to Iraqis in mid-2004.

Early elections have been demanded by the most powerful and revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has challenged the U.S. plan to let regional caucuses choose a transitional assembly.

Washington hopes the United Nations agree that organizing elections before the planned June 30 handover of power would be impossible due to a lack of security, electoral registers and laws in Iraq, and that Sistani will respect that verdict.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 31, 2004
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