Canada is ready and willing to train election officials in
Iraq and help monitor the vote that U.S. authorities want
to hold in that occupied country, says Prime Minister Paul
Martin.
"This is an area in which Canada has a great
deal of expertise ... and we're prepared to offer it,"
Martin said yesterday in an interview on CNN, the U.S.
cable news network.
His comments came as gunmen ambushed a bus carrying unarmed
Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit
yesterday, killing 17 and raising the toll from three days
of intensified and bloody insurgent attacks to at least 70
Iraqi dead and dozens wounded.
The attacks, focused on Baghdad and several cities to the
north, appeared to be aimed at scaring off those who
co-operate with the American military -- whether police, national guardsmen,
Kurdish militias, or ordinary people just looking for a paycheque.
So far there's been no official request for Canadian help
in organizing Iraq's election, scheduled for Jan. 30. But Martin
said Ottawa has "indicated that if we're asked, we will
participate. And we can move very quickly once we're asked,
we've done this before." Source.
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