Qaeda's leader in Iraq threatened military action in a bid to prevent a parliamentary election being held next month, as official campaigning started in the country Friday. Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi warned in an audiotape that his Al-Qaeda front, the Islamic State of Iraq, had “decided to prevent the elections by all legitimate means possible, primarily by military means,” US monitors SITE said. Baghdadi condemned the March 7 general election as a political crime plotted by Iraq's Shiite majority, according to the 34-minute recording posted on jihadist websites and picked up by SITE. The vote is seen as a key test of reconciliation for Iraq, which has been wracked by sectarian hostilities since the late dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted following the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. It is also considered by Washington as a crucial precursor to a complete US military withdrawal by the end of 2011. The run-up to campaign opening had been dominated by the legacy of Saddam and his Sunni Arab former elite, which still looms large more than two years after his execution. A row over candidates accused of ties to Saddam's outlawed Baath party has left key members of the country's dominant Shiite majority anxious to extinguish every trace of his influence, fanning tension among Sunnis. An integrity and accountability committee announced late Thursday that 28 of 177 candidates banned from the vote for alleged Baathist links would be allowed to stand after all, a small proportion of more than 500 originally blacklisted. Iraqi officials confirmed Saturday that appeals by prominent Sunni politicians against a move to ban them from next month's election had failed, opening the door to sectarian recriminations that could mar the vote. One hundred and forty-five appeals were rejected, he said. Other candidates had been voluntarily replaced by their parties.“Among those whose appeals were rejected were Saleh al-Mutlaq and Dhafer al
