Iraq’s first postwar election will prove to be "an
incredibly hopeful experience for the Iraqi people," President Bush told
reporters Friday during a press briefing at the White House.

Mr. Bush said it is the job of the U.S. military to give Iraqi’s “the best chance they can to vote and to participate.”

It’s evident that insurgents “ are trying to stop people from voting” in four of the country’s 18 provinces, Mr. Bush said, “because they understand that democracies stand in the exact opposite to what they believe."

A U.S. general, meanwhile, is warning that Iraqi rebels
may stage a major attack to scare people off from voting in the
Jan. 30 elections.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel says the U.S. has no
information on specific plots, but says American leaders expect a
rise in attacks.

More than 90 people have been killed in attacks this week, including seven soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division’s Task Force Baghdad.

They died Thursday when a homemade bomb hit their Bradley fighting vehicle while they were on patrol in northwestern Baghdad.

Most of the victims, however, were members of Iraq’s security forces who were seen by militants as collaborators with American occupiers.

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