Online Articles
Posts: 271
Joined: 11/9/2004
Status: offline
|
Chicago Tribune
BAGHDAD - Just weeks before the planned U.S. hand-over of sovereignty in Iraq, the country's U.S.-appointed leaders are balking at a United Nations plan to create a caretaker government that they fear may exclude most of them.
U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hinted earlier this month that he would sideline Iraq's Governing Council in favor of "technocrats" who would take power July 1, a day after the council ceases to exist. His assessment has met with initial approval from the White House.
But Iraq's handpicked leaders - most notably former exile Ahmad Chalabi - signaled over the weekend that they would not step down without a fight. While they expected the existing Governing Council to dissolve June 30, they were stunned by Brahimi's suggestion that many or all of them should have no position in the caretaker government.
"Iraqis should have a voice in this," said Mahmoud Othman, a Governing Council member who participated in a "town hall" meeting Sunday to discuss Iraq's future government. He, like many Iraqis, complained that the U.S. and U.N. were planning Iraq's democratic reforms in secret.
"If it is decided behind closed doors by others, maybe Iraqis won't support this government," Othman said.
For the Bush administration, Brahimi's involvement is key to its strategy of sharing the burden of responsibility in Iraq with others as U.S. forces become increasingly bogged down in military conflicts. It was assumed, moreover, that a U.N. hand in the process could legitimize the caretaker government in the eyes of Iraqis skeptical of U.S. intentions.
Under Brahimi's plan, Iraq would be governed by a prime minister, a president, and two vice presidents until national elections slated for January 2005. But who might be chosen for those positions - and how - remains unclear.
"I don't think anyone knows specifically who will be doing what," said Feisal Istrabadi, an adviser to council member Adnan Pachachi. "We're still at the stage of designing the `what' with some hope of precision," Istrabadi said.
Amid the confusion, Brahimi's idea to dump all or most of the Governing Council has led to a war of words between him and key players on the council who object to any plan that would deny them a voice in choosing the caretaker government.
Chalabi, a council member with almost no popular support in Iraq but lots of backing in Washington, told "Fox News Sunday" that Brahimi is a "controversial figure. He is not a unifying figure."
Ali Abdel Amir, spokesman for Iyad Allawi, a leading Shiite council member, said Brahimi would overstep his mandate if he tried to exclude the council.
"Brahimi can't nominate anyone and he can't (leave) anyone out," Abdel Amir said. "The whole subject must be discussed with Iraqis."
As if to underscore that they will not disappear quietly, Governing Council members began a three-day conference Tuesday to discuss the creation of the caretaker government. On the agenda: a suggestion to expand the current Governing Council to include more sectors of Iraqi society.
That idea may fall flat, not only with Brahimi, but among ordinary Iraqis. Composed mainly of Iraqi exiles, the Governing Council has lacked a popular base since its inception and its members have suffered from a perception that they are corrupt and inept stooges of the U.S.
"They have not demonstrated as a group at least an ability to govern, and so at some point one would ask why would you want to repeat what by all accounts has not been a successful experiment," Istrabadi said.
There are some notable exceptions, Iraqis say. Pachachi, the octogenarian leader of a mainstream secular party who served in Iraqi governments before Saddam Hussein's rise to power, seems to command respect from a wide spectrum of Iraqis.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the grass-roots Dawa Party whose members spearheaded revolts against Hussein, draws popular support from the Shiites in southern Iraq who are familiar with Dawa's social programs.
Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, an exile who returned to join the Governing Council, is a leader of Al-Shammari tribe, one of Iraq's largest Sunni tribes. But it is unclear how much name recognition he might have among the Iraqi electorate.
Most of the rest, say Iraqis, remain largely unknown to ordinary people. Iraqis discount them as thieves or opportunists who they suspect have returned to Iraq to make lucrative contacts with the ministries of finance or trade.
"People want to see a change, and they see the Governing Council as an obstacle to that," said Sermid Al-Sarraf, an Iraqi-American lawyer working with an U.S.-funded program to renovate Iraq's law schools. "They wanted to see results. They're not seeing results."
On Tuesday, the council met with members of Islamic groups, many of whom complained that Brahimi's plan does not include a legislative body, according to the council's spokesman, Hamid al-Kafaai.Iraqis such as Amer Fayadh, a professor at Baghdad University, said they want a say in the process of choosing their government.
Earlier this month, Fayadh and five other university professors drafted a proposal for a caretaker government and submitted it to Brahimi during a 10-minute meeting with the UN envoy.
The proposal included a complicated system for choosing an electoral college of sorts that would nominate and then vote for candidates to the caretaker government.
The short time between now and July 1, Fayadh said, should not deter Iraqis from choosing their leaders: "Any future government should have legitimacy from the people."
___
(Tribune correspondent Vincent J. Schodolski contributed to this report.)
___
(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
© YellowBrix, Inc. Copyright 1997-2003
|
Main Page
Log In
Register
Printable Version
U.N. Plan May Oust Iraqi Governing Council for `Technoc... - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread