Classifieds:   |   |   |  Posted 10/17/2005 9:22 PM     Updated
10/17/2005 9:31 PM  Allawi, others push for secular control in
Iraq BAGHDAD — Former prime minister Ayad Allawi on Monday
rallied secular politicians to join him in a united campaign for
December elections as he warned Iraqis against a government
dominated by religious clerics.  If Iraq's constitution is
approved, a new government will be elected in December for a
four-year term. A new National Assembly will be chosen and
legislators will have an opportunity to modify the constitution.
Allawi lost his top government post after last January's
elections, when a slate backed by the fundamentalist Shiite
clerics won a majority in the Iraqi National Assembly. In the
current government, Shiites are in a coalition with the more
secular Kurds.  Allawi hopes to turn the country away from
fundamentalism. He said Iraq's progress depends on "national
unity and renouncing all types of religious fanaticism."  Sunni
Arabs opposed the constitution and some hope