Iraq's leading Shiite religious bloc said today it was ready to discuss Sunni Arab participation in a future coalition government as thousands of demonstrators, including Sunnis and secular Shias, took to the streets claiming election fraud.
Reacting to growing protests over the December 15th ballot, Shia prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari called on Iraqis to have faith in the electoral process.
He made the call after meeting with visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - who announced the first of a possible series of US combat troop reductions next year.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein's chief Iraqi lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, claimed he saw evidence his client had been beaten.
The US has strenuously denied maltreating Saddam, and the Iraqi judge who investigated the fallen president said that until he appeared in court this week to make the claims he had always said `No' when asked if he had been abused.
Mr Rumsfeld said US President George Bush had authorised new cuts below the 138,000 level that has prevailed for most of this year.
Mr Rumsfeld did not reveal the exact size of the cut, but in a joint statement the top military commander in Iraq and the US ambassador said it would involve two combat brigades, or about 7,000 troops.
"That will bring down the total level from 17 brigades to 15," General George Casey and Zalmay Khalilzad said in the statement.
They said the decision should be "welcomed by the Iraqi people" as it is an "indication of the remarkable progress Iraq is making. It clearly demonstrates the dramatic increase in capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces."
The US military said two soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad today. No other details were released. The military later announced another US soldier was killed in Baghdad when his patrol was struck by a roadside bomb yesterday.
Gunmen today attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Adhaim, in religiously and ethnically mixed Diyala province, killing eight soldiers and wounding seventeen, an Iraqi army officer said.
In Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt outside a Shiite mosque, killing four people and wounding eight, Diyala police said. Among the dead was a policeman guarding the mosque.
About 20,000 people took part in a mass demonstration in southern Baghdad after prayers that was organised by 35 political parties.
Many Iraqis outside the governing Shiite United Iraqi Alliance allege that the elections were unfair to smaller Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups.
"We refuse the cheating and forgery in the elections," one banner read.
During prayers at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque, the headquarters of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, a major Sunni clerical group, Sheikh Mahmoud al-Sumaidaei told followers they were "living a conspiracy built on lies and forgery."
"You have to be ready during these hard times and combat forgeries and lies for the sake of Islam," he said.
More than 2,000 people also demonstrated in Mosul, where some accused Iran of having a hand in election fraud. About 1,000 people demonstrated in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.
Sunni Arab and secular Shiite factions have demanded that an international body review election fraud complaints, and threatened to boycott the new legislature. The United Nations rejected the idea.
Many are demanding that the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq resign and blame it for allegedly covering up instances of ballot box stuffing and fraud. The independent Iraqi agency also monitored the January 30 elections and October 15 constitutional referendum.
Their demands come after preliminary returns indicated that the current governing group, the religious Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, was getting bigger-than-expected majorities in Baghdad, which has large numbers of Shiites and Sunnis.
About 1,500 complaints have been lodged about the elections, including about 40 serious enough to change the results in certain areas.
"The election committee is independent and it relies on itself. The government does not intervene in its affairs. It has opened its door and is studying every complaint," al-Jaafari said.
The prime minister added: "Our victory as a government, our real victory, is that the election process included all political groups. Those who have complaints should contribute to this feeling and to be confident that their complaints will be listened to."
The Shiites have called on the Sunni Arabs to accept the results and consider joining a coalition government after the final results are released in early January.
"We are very close to our Sunni brothers, more than other groups, and with them we can form a National unity government," said Bahaa al-Din al-Araji, a senior member of the United Iraqi Alliance.
"The electoral commission is independent and it did very well in the January elections, the referendum on the constitution and the last election," al-Araji said.
"These results reflect Iraqi reality and they have to accept this reality."
The US embassy in Baghdad said it was in the interest of Iraq's people to create a broad-based government, and political councillor Robert Ford said he was heartened by a strong turnout in places such as the Sunni-dominated western province of Anbar - with a turnout of more than 50% last week compared to just 2% in the Janaury 30 elections.
"There is real progress, there is something to build on even in the most hard Sunni Arab places such as Anbar. We would like a government that capitalised on that and which fosters a sense of national reconciliation," Ford said.
AP