Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is rejecting calls to abandon his bid for a second term, resisting U.S. and British pressure to step aside to break the deadlock over a new government. 
Al-Jaafari was quoted as saying Wednesday by The Guardian newspaper that he was rejecting calls to give up the nomination of his Shiite bloc "to protect democracy in Iraq." "There is a decision that was reached by a democratic mechanism and I stand with it," he told the British newspaper. "We have to respect our Iraqi people."
Sunni and Kurdish politicians have called for al-Jaafari's replacement, claiming that his government had failed to restore order and prevent an escalation in tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in recent weeks that threatens civil war. "People will react if they see the rules of democracy being disobeyed," al-Jaafari told the newspaper. "Everyone should stick to democratic mechanisms no matter whether they disagree with the person."
Attacks go on
Meanwhile, American and Iraqi forces Wednesday freed three Iraqi kidnap victims in the north, while a Sunni professor was found dead hours after he was abducted in the southern city of Basra, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
Acting on a tip, Iraqi troops and police and members of the U.S. 172nd Stryker Brigade raided a house in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. statement said. The combined force located the three Iraqis chained to the wall of the basement.
Elsewhere, the body of a lecturer in the Basra Technical Institution, Salah Aziz, was found by police in Basra early Wednesday, police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim said.
In Baghdad, a receptionist at the United Arab Emirates Embassy and his friend - both Iraqis - were slain as they left the building, police said.
In addition, the body of a U.S. Marine missing after a weekend vehicle accident was also recovered Tuesday.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
