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washingtonpost.com
Appointed Iraqi Council Assumes Limited Role


By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, July 14, 2003; Page A01


BAGHDAD, July 13 -- A group of 25 Iraqis from diverse political, ethnic and
religious backgrounds stepped onto a stage and declared themselves a
"governing council" today, taking the first step to define the country's
political future by accepting an offer of limited power-sharing from the
U.S.-led occupation authority.

The members -- who include former exiles, politicians, Muslim clerics,
tribal leaders, social activists, physicians and lawyers -- were selected by
the occupation authority to help run this country of 24 million people until
sovereignty is handed over to an elected government. The council's
responsibilities will include the operation of ministries, the appointment
of diplomats, the approval of next year's budget and preliminary work to
form a commission to draft a constitution. Final control over those issues
will still rest with the U.S. administrator here, L. Paul Bremer, but he has
said he will follow the council's decisions in all but the most
extraordinary circumstances.

"The establishment of this council is an expression of the national Iraqi
will in the wake of the collapse of the former oppressive regime," intoned
Muhammed Bahr Uloum, an elderly, bespectacled Shiite Muslim cleric in gauzy
black robes who was selected leader of today's ceremonies.

"The people have won," said Ibrahim Jafari, a leader of the Dawa party, a
Shiite political organization that opposed Saddam Hussein's government.
Thousands of its members were executed under Hussein's rule. "After all of
these years and all of the sacrifices we have made, we have taken the first
step toward democracy," Jafari said.

Bremer and other U.S. officials here hope that the council, which was
assembled over the past six weeks in a process that culminated in a frantic
series of meetings over the past few days, will play a key role in tempering
public disenchantment and restoring stability.

They expect the council to appease Iraqi political leaders, who have been
clamoring for a chance to govern, as well as citizens, who have called for a
greater role for Iraqis in the postwar transition. U.S. officials also say
they believe that putting responsibility for government operations on the
council could help deflect public anger over the tardy resumption of basic
services from the occupation authority.

Although Bremer and his top political aides contend that the council's
members represent a cross-section of the country and will have wide public
support, it is not clear how Iraqis will react to a group that was
handpicked by the occupation authority. While some Baghdad residents said
they would adopt a wait-and-see attitude, others dismissed the group as
American lackeys. "We cannot trust them," said Mohammed Abbas, an Oil
Ministry employee who joined legions of Iraqis in watching the announcement
of the council on live satellite television.

The members, 22 men and three women, held a two-hour, closed-door meeting
this afternoon before walking onto the stage in a large conference hall to
reveal themselves to their country and the world. They sat in a semicircle
of chairs to deliver a statement and answer questions from the news media as
Bremer and other officials looked on from the front row.

Bremer, a former U.S. ambassador and crisis manager who was sent to Baghdad
to turn around the faltering reconstruction effort, did not speak at the
ceremony. That fell to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special
representative for Iraq, who was asked by the members to make a statement.

"There are defining moments in history," he said. "For Iraq, today is
definitely one of those."

He said Iraq was "moving back to where it rightfully belongs: at peace with
itself and as a full participant in the community of nations."

Thirteen of the council members are Shiites, a group that makes up about 60
percent of Iraq's population, while 11 are Sunnis and one is an Assyrian
Christian. Among the Sunnis, five are ethnic Kurds, five are Arab and one is
an ethnic Turkmen.

The council includes several prominent Iraqis, such as Uloum and Abdul Karim
Muhammadawi, a legendary guerrilla fighter in the southern marshes, as well
as the leaders of seven leading political organizations, such as Ahmed
Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, who has close ties to the Pentagon.
But many others are relative unknowns on the streets of Baghdad.

Seated in front of a large banner depicting the shape of Iraq with the red,
black and white colors of its flag, the members appeared to reflect the
diversity of the country with their attire. Two men wore the black turbans
of Shiite clerics, two others were draped in gold-fringed tribal robes, two
women were clad in colorful head scarves and the rest of the men wore
business suits.

"I helped deliver thousands of Iraqi babies, and now I am taking part in the
birth of a new country and a new rule based on women's rights, humanity,
unity and freedom," said Rajaa Habib Khuzai, one of the women on the council
and the director of a maternity hospital in southern Iraq.

Sixteen of the members had lived outside the reach of Hussein's government
before the war -- in a swath of northern Iraq controlled by Kurds or outside
the country.

The issue of whether the council would be dominated by exiles had been a
point of controversy among some Iraqis, who argued that the people who lived
outside the country -- in some cases for decades -- should not get a
majority of the council seats. U.S. and British officials involved in the
selection of the group stressed today that they did not regard the seven
members who lived in Kurdish-controlled Iraq as exiles. As a consequence,
the officials said, they counted only nine members as former exiles.

Even so, the former exiles and Kurds, whose freedom from Hussein's lockstep
politics allowed them to become skilled in the ways of news conferences and
public speaking, dominated the question-and-answer session. All but one of
the questions were answered by them, while the other members sat
impassively.

After today's two-hour meeting, the members had lunch with Bremer, Vieira de
Mello and John Sawers, the top British diplomat in Iraq.

Although members said they would wait until a second meeting on Monday to
choose the council leadership, they did agree on one highly symbolic first
public action: The council set April 9, the day Baghdad fell to U.S. forces,
as a national holiday, and it rescinded six public holidays connected to
Hussein and his Baath Party. They will have immediate effect because Monday
is the anniversary of the 1958 military overthrow of the former ruling
monarchy, and Thursday is the anniversary of the 1968 coup that brought the
Baath Party to power.

Members said they hoped to begin tackling a raft of complex issues over the
coming days and weeks. "Looking at the challenges of today, we believe the
most important priority of the council is to direct all of its efforts to
achieving security and stability in the country, revitalizing the national
economy, and providing public services," Uloum said.

Some of the members said they hoped that the council's tenure would be
limited and that elections would be held soon. "We hope that this council
will work for a very short time," said Abdul Aziz Hakim, a cleric who
represents the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the
largest Shiite political party. "We should have a constitutional government
and we should get rid of the occupation."

During today's news conference, some of the members bristled at the
questions posed by Arab satellite news channels, which they accused of being
too deferential to Hussein when he was in power -- and now. "The satellite
channels expect Saddam to come back, but he is in the trash can of history.
He is not coming back," Uloum said after a question from an al-Jazeera
reporter.

The meeting took place under extraordinary security, with Army helicopters
buzzing overhead and extra soldiers patrolling nearby streets. Insurgents
opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq have targeted Iraqis working with the
occupation authority in recent weeks, prompting concern that council members
could be the focus of attacks.

Chalabi was the only council member to express public gratitude to the
United States and Britain for removing Hussein's government. He also
condemned attacks on U.S. troops in the country. "The Iraqi people consider
them forces of liberation," he said. "They don't consider these attacks as
acts of resistance."

Correspondent Molly Moore and special correspondent Jill Carroll contributed
to this report.



© 2003 The Washington Post Company



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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

"Feels Good!"
---George W. Bush on the Brink of Declaring War on Iraq.

"Gandalf Grey" <gandalfgrey@infectedmail.com> wrote in
news:3f1337bd$0$24548$9a6e19ea@news.newshosting.co m:

> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...Jul13.html?nav
> =
>
> washingtonpost.com
> Appointed Iraqi Council Assumes Limited Role
>
>
> By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
> Washington Post Foreign Service
> Monday, July 14, 2003; Page A01

(snip)
>
> "The establishment of this council is an expression of the national
> Iraqi will in the wake of the collapse of the former oppressive
> regime," intoned Muhammed Bahr Uloum, an elderly, bespectacled Shiite
> Muslim cleric in gauzy black robes who was selected leader of today's
> ceremonies.
>
> "The people have won," said Ibrahim Jafari, a leader of the Dawa
> party, a Shiite political organization that opposed Saddam Hussein's
> government. Thousands of its members were executed under Hussein's
> rule. "After all of these years and all of the sacrifices we have
> made, we have taken the first step toward democracy," Jafari said.

(snip)

""If America’s allies do not act now, Saddam “will conclude that the
international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he
can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating
destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he’ll use the
arsenal.” - Clinton, Feb 8 98""