| Leading Sunni clerics and insurgent organizations are unofficially encouraging voting by Sunnis in Thursday's parliamentary elections for a slate of candidates who are calling for a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. The decision to support participation in the election is the latest step in an evolving Sunni strategy that now combines armed struggle, participation in electoral politics, and negotiations for a peace settlement ? all aimed at ending the occupation and gaining bargaining leverage for Sunnis in post-Saddam Hussein politics. |




