AP
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday that Iraq's elections must not be delayed from their scheduled date of Jan. 30, rejecting calls from more than a dozen political parties there to postpone them until security at the polls can be ensured.
"It's time for Iraqi citizens to go to the polls," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Bush also weighed in on the matter of the election crisis in Ukraine, saying more forcefully than he had previously that other countries must not meddle as that country sorts through the disputed vote.
If there is to be a new election, as many government leaders and Ukrainian demonstrators have demanded, it "ought to be free from any foreign influence," Bush said.
He did not single out any country, but his words seemed to echo those of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, with whom Bush met this week and who explicitly said Russia must not inject itself into the Ukrainian matter.
Bush steered gingerly around allegations of corruption in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq, which first surfaced in January. The charges have escalated. Two weeks ago, a congressional investigation uncovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq, including the oil-for-food program.
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Sure! What's one more corrupt, stolen election....
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday that Iraq's elections must not be delayed from their scheduled date of Jan. 30, rejecting calls from more than a dozen political parties there to postpone them until security at the polls can be ensured.
"It's time for Iraqi citizens to go to the polls," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Bush also weighed in on the matter of the election crisis in Ukraine, saying more forcefully than he had previously that other countries must not meddle as that country sorts through the disputed vote.
If there is to be a new election, as many government leaders and Ukrainian demonstrators have demanded, it "ought to be free from any foreign influence," Bush said.
He did not single out any country, but his words seemed to echo those of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, with whom Bush met this week and who explicitly said Russia must not inject itself into the Ukrainian matter.
Bush steered gingerly around allegations of corruption in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq, which first surfaced in January. The charges have escalated. Two weeks ago, a congressional investigation uncovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq, including the oil-for-food program.
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Sure! What's one more corrupt, stolen election....
