Iraqis divided over which US candidate can rebuild

By Missy Ryan

BAGHDAD, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Iraqis hope the outcome of this week's U.S. presidential election will help them repair the wounds of war but, like Americans, they differ on whether Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama can truly do so.

In conversations across Iraq on Sunday, Iraqis were divided about which candidate would help improve their lives more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

"I hope the winner will be the person who can return what Americans have taken from Iraq," said Abu Karrar al-Sa'aidi, a real estate broker in central Baghdad.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died since 2003, and attacks go on in some parts of the country even though violence in October hit its lowest level since the war began.

Iraq's economy is in tatters and basic services such as electricity and clean water are a luxury for millions of people.

Iraq's political leaders, and ordinary people, take a pragmatic view when it comes to Tuesday's election.

"All we want is a president who will help Iraq, who will stand beside Iraq," supporting reconstruction, the economy and efforts to build political unity, said Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc.

For Iraqis, security is paramount. Najat Kareem, a retired engineer in Baghdad, favours McCain because he backed President George W. Bush's troop build-up last year, which many have credited as one of the principal causes for declining violence.

Still, Iraq remains a dangerous place, and many people here are bitter about the price Iraq has paid since 2003.

"We prefer that Obama wins because he is a Democrat and he opposed the war in Iraq," said Mohammed Khalil, a member of the provincial governing council in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad.

Samir Ahmed, who sells vegetables in the southern city of Najaf, raised his arms to the sky. "God willing, Obama will win and Bush's party will lose, just as it is losing in Iraq."



BASIC NEEDS

The outcome of Tuesday's vote may not determine the future of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi negotiators can quickly complete a security deal that would allow U.S. troops to stay through 2011.

But if no deal is struck soon, the task may fall to the next president. Obama's plan has been to withdraw within 16 months of taking office, while McCain has shunned set timetables.

Ahmed Masoudi, a lawmaker loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said he is a tentative Obama supporter.

"Still, we are unsure if he will fulfil his promise (to withdraw) if he is elected. Most important is that any U.S. president must respect the wishes of Americans when they ask to bring troops home, and to respect Iraqis' wishes," he said.

The U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Arab, has remained neutral.

Mahmoud Otham, a senior member of parliament's Kurdish bloc, said he supports Obama because he is more closely aligned with minority Kurds' ambitions of gaining greater autonomy.

After decades of sanctions, isolation and war, Iraq will be in need of reconstruction assistance long after Nov. 4.

Lubna al-Kadhim, who owns a stationery shop in Baghdad, favours Obama. "Bush's promises to help us were only lies," she said.

For Iraqis like Safa'a Mohammed, who owns a shop in Baghdad, the outcome of the U.S. vote pales in comparison to the daily struggle to make ends meet and keep loved ones safe.

"The only things I can think about are my wages, electricity, explosions, kidnapping," he said. "And cholera." (Reporting by Aseel Kami, Aws Qusay, Waleed Ibrahim and Wissam Mohammed in Baghdad, Khaled Farhan in Najaf and Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk; Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)