While President Bush is expressing optimism Friday about Iraq's upcoming elections, US Air Force Brig. General Erv Lessel is warning that a "spectacular" attack may be carried out by insurgents.

Although Lessel has admitted that the US has no direct evidence of specific plots he warns that insurgency groups are in all likelihood planning attacks in an attempt to scare potential voters during the three weeks leading up to the planned January 30 Iraqi elections.

Lessel's warnings come one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi extended until February a national state of emergency in an attempt to further safeguard the elections. The country is witnessing a sharp divide on whether the vote should be held at all.

This will be the first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932. The Sunnis are certain to lose their dominance to the Shiites, who make up 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people.

Close to 100 people, mostly Iraqi security troops have been killed this week alone as a result of an increase in violence including suicide car bombings and assassinations.

Hundreds of Fallujah refugees demonstrated Friday in the village of Naimiyah, demanding that US and Iraqi forces leave the area, open the roads and pay compensation for property damage in the November, 2004 military assault.

Meanwhile in Washington, President Bush said the elections in Iraq will be "an incredibly hopeful experience." Bush went on to say that the insurgents are trying to interrupt the democratic process because they fear freedom.