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Iraq
Garner pledges a new Baghdad government within days
2003-04-25
The American administrator of Iraq, Jay Garner, said yesterday the formation of a post-Saddam government would start next week. But he failed to say who would serving on it or how they would be chosen. There also appeared to be confusion over what would happen if an Islamic government was voted to power in a future election.
I'm not confused over what would happen.
While insisting that America and Britain wanted to let the people of Iraq decide their own fate, General Garner maintained that an Islamic government was incompatible with democratic principles.
He's not confused over what would happen, either.
His British deputy, Major-General Tim Cross, said Iraqis must be allowed to vent their fury after decades of repression. But he added that he did not want to see this lead to a fundamentalist regime similar to neighbouring Iran. He insisted that the Shia majority in the country would not want this either. "I genuinely believe that many of these people want to be part of a democratic Iraq," he said.

But the assertions of General Garner and Maj-Gen Cross were made against a background of rising religious and nationalistic fervour incited by Iranian mullahs, highlighted in the million-strong Shia pilgrimage at Karbala, which ended with eye-rolling demands for the establishment of an Islamist state and spittle-flecked threats of a jihad against the "American occupiers". Islamic administrations have already been established in a series of towns and villages in the Shia heartland of the south and east, with clerics stepping into the vacuum left by the collapse of the regime. The Shia religious authority, the Hawza, based in the holy city of Najaf, claims it is co-ordinating the takeovers.
Welcome to the top of the new target list, boys!
America has claimed that Shia Iran is encouraging the militancy of its co-religionists, although this was piously strongly denied by the Iranian government. General Garner declared that "the coalition will not accept such interference", without elaborating on what kind of action was envisaged. The retired general held talks yesterday with 60 Baghdad academics and community leaders on Iraq's future. Iraqis who attended the meeting, which lasted about an hour, said they had pressed General Garner to restore essential services and law and order as quickly as possible to the battered capital. "He said, 'We are trying to do our best'," reported one of the participants, the writer and retired English teacher Youarash Haidoua. "We need security, we need peace, we need law." An American official described the tone of the meeting as "spirited and sometimes desperate emotional". General Garner said: "I think you'll begin to see the governmental process start next week... It will have Iraqi faces on it. It will be governed by the Iraqis." The American administrator urged government employees to return to work. Asked how the process of "deBaathification" would be carried out, he said "cronies of Saddam" would become targets and a list of suspects prepared by the Pentagon would be consulted.
Hope it's a long list.
He denied that the American government was backing Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, who was flown to Iraq on board an American military aircraft and has stayed behind the iron gates of Baghdad's Hunting Club, guarded by American forces.
That'll inspire people to follow you, Chabbies.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Liberalhawk---Your statement:

"Villepin's visit to Teheran wasnt simply a matter of French attraction to dictators - it was a question of coordinating pressure on the US position in Iraq."

Was right on. This little junket just goes to show that there is ABSOLUTELY NO SINCERITY in France's attempts to kiss and make up. They may not be a shooting enemy, but they're everything but. I do not know if this will do anything or if it is just diplo BS, but we should recall our ambassador to France for consultations. We must let France AND the rest of the world know how disgusted and pissed we are with Chiraq. This Iran thing raises me BP.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-04-25 20:36:35  

#8  Anonon, dude. This is Rantburg. We joke around, swap shop talk and in general try to treat each other with respect (unless your name happens to be Murat). If you want to start flame wars, go to LGF.
Posted by: 11A5S   2003-04-25 13:49:31  

#7  Anyone else remember "Anonon" from lgf where he commented as "Nastification Agenda" (among other aliases)?
Posted by: someone   2003-04-25 13:16:07  

#6  Badanov:
Reaganites as "leftists"? Bush Jr as man of principle? Junior pocketed $6,000,000 in unearned cash after the sale of the Texas Rangers. He took $2,500,000 in loot from his failed "Arbusto Oil" venture. Then he grabbed $1,500,000 in booty for dry oil wells in the United Arab Emirates. His prostrate support for the Wahabi entity, which funds the terrorist groups that Americans pay billions to fight, will deliver him untold post-regime millions. His Vice President positioned himself to earn $60,000,000 in connection fees from his Gulf War1 partners. Shall we forget Enron? Bush's "faith based" rhetoric, is nothing but a cover for his serial end-run of the Ten Commandments. When he writes his memoirs, he should title them: I AM A CROOK AND A PHONY CHRISTIAN.

The slavish defense of the oil-patch President, reminds me of previous uncritical blather from pathologically dependent thinkers like your spin consuming self: Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Fuhrer!
Posted by: Anonon   2003-04-25 12:48:21  

#5  Hitchens on Chalabi (and Iraqi communists, etc)


http://slate.msn.com/id/2081968/
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-04-25 09:31:18  

#4  From this AM's WaPo - good news and bad news

Good news - Mosul quiets down, ex-army officers there cooperating with Americans.
Bad news - report that SCIRI cleric running Kut has local support.
mixed news - US relations with self-proclaimed governor of Baghdad still cool. Garner playing this one well, I think. "if people of Baghdad want him out, we'll remove him" Doesnt confirm his position, but doesnt rule out working with him if he has real support.

Chalabi - first lets not personalize it so much. INC is more than Chalabi, I hope. And I dont think we want Chalabi running around inspiring people. We want locals to run local affairs - as they are even in the cleric controlled cities. The question is who do the locals look to for coordination and leadership at a higher level - and even then it need not be Chalabi, but he can serve as an alternative for some, and dilute influence of those we dont like. Not at all clear that even the "Hawza" is united. Anti-US statement the other day from a cleric there seemed to contradict position of top guy Ayatollah Sistani.

Shiites cant possibly implement Iran style government - certainly not democracticaly, and probably not by force. theyre only 60% or so of the population. An Iran style system would have the opposition of the non-Shia 40%, relatively secularist Shiites, and any clerics who feared being left out of the ruling clique. Alternative strategy for SCIRI would be compromise with anti-US Sunni mullahs in Baghdad - but that would probably alienate much of Shia population. More likely is acceptance of some broader govt. But the more they can grab now the more leverage they (and Iran) have.

Note also - the more SCIRI plays hard to get - the more pressure there is on the US to get UNSC support for legitimacy - which increases the leverage of France at the UNSC. Du Villepin's visit to Teheran wasnt simply a matter of French attraction to dictators - it was a question of coordinating pressure on the US position in Iraq.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-04-25 08:42:30  

#3  Letting some of the shites (I love how the word looks typed out) run some municipalities for a few months is a truly great idea. The more the people experience shite govt. before they vote the less likely they will vote in a shite govt. By the way, the people of Iran have voted out their shite govt several times. Unfortunately, the mullahs have a shite constitution.
Posted by: mhw   2003-04-25 07:37:23  

#2  The preceding was brought to you by a shocked and awed memeber of the left, who still can't bring themselves to believe Bush is an adult and is fully in charge.

Pathetic.
Posted by: badanov   2003-04-25 02:54:53  

#1  If Ronnie Reagan was in power, there would be no Iraqi government until a secular constitution was in place, and Islamofascist agitators were either in jail or in the bellies of vultures. Before Iraq can be de-Baathed and de-Islamofascized, the "faith based" White House needs to be de-Bushed. Norquist/Bush have already delivered Pakistan and Turkey to the Islamofascists. Before the "faith based" State Department delivers Iraq to Iran's Mullahs, Yemen is next on the list. Yeech!

http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=17766
Posted by: Anonon   2003-04-25 02:30:27  

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