Iraqi's optimistic message to world

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's whirlwind trip to Washington is a visit probably designed to bolster both Mr. Allawi and his White House host.

Allawi gets what foreign leaders always want when they come to the US: a stage on which to appear the equal of an American president. Allawi may have to be careful, though: He needs to appear to be his own man, and not a US puppet.

President Bush, for his part, could benefit from the Iraqi leader's relentless optimism. Since his arrival in the US earlier this week, Allawi has insisted that the situation in his country is getting better by the day - and that most Iraqis are grateful that the US has freed them from Saddam Hussein.

Allawi's "challenge is to present the other part of the reality, the good news such as it is," says Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp. in Washington.

That's a tough job, considering the stream of bad news out of the Middle East. US military fatalities have passed the 1,000 mark, the brutal murder of kidnapped civilians from Western nations continues, and some officials are quietly questioning whether violence will necessitate postponement of Iraq's scheduled January elections.

Meanwhile, Iraq's most powerful Shiite leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is reportedly becoming restive about the nature of Iraq's progress toward democracy. He opposes any delay in the January vote - and wants more Shiite representation in the nascent political process, according to news reports.

For his part Allawi insists that the election will proceed as scheduled. Such areas as Fallujah that are bedeviled by violence are the exception, the Iraqi leader insisted in a speech Thursday to a joint session of Congress.

The vote might not be perfect. But 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces are peaceful enough that they could hold elections tomorrow, Allawi told US lawmakers.

"Elections will occur on time in January because Iraqis want elections on time," he said.

Allawi, a former Iraqi dissident and medical doctor known for his blunt style and longtime ties to the CIA, said that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis are grateful that they are rid of Mr. Hussein's tyranny.

"Thank you, America," he said.

In addition, Allawi associated the fighting in Iraq with the US global war on terrorism. He has said that upwards of 30 percent of Iraqi insurgents are foreigners - an estimate far larger than the US military's.

Thus he implied that Iraq is simply the US forward defensive line.

"We are fighting for freedom and democracy - ours and yours," he told members of Congress.

Allawi said that he is a realist, and that the fight against terrorism will be hard. But he held out the city of Samarra as a positive example - a place where insurgents have been pushed out by local citizens, and regular access to the city has been restored.

He provided an optimistic figure of 250,000 security personnel to be trained by the end of next year. He insisted that basic services are being improved, and homes, schools, and hospitals are being rebuilt. Over 6 million Iraqi children are now attending school, according to Allawi.

"For the skeptics who do not understand the Iraqi people, they do not realize the depth of Iraqi ... desire for freedom," Allawi said.

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