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| Iraq |
| Iraq Council Vows to Hold 2004 Elections |
| 2003-10-16 |
| The head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council said Wednesday his country will "definitely" hold elections next year and that security won’t be improved by bringing in more foreign troops. "Mr. Bremer, what if we say, um, how does it go in your country, ’pretty please’?" Ayad Allawi, current holder of the council’s rotating presidency, was asked by reporters at a summit of Islamic nations when elections would be held, and he responded: "Definitely 2004." The United States has introduced a resolution at the U.N. Security Council that would give Iraqis until Dec. 15 to come up with a timetable for elections and a new constitution, an attempt to meet demands by France, Germany and Russia for a schedule for sovereignty to be returned to Iraq. An aide to Allawi, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the 2004 election target "is part of the planning; that is our aspiration." Any date would have to be approved by the U.S. governing authority in Iraq. The 25-member Governing Council has been criticized as being too slow to present reforms and follow up on decisions it has made and the committees it has formed, including the writing of a new constitution. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said a constitution could be written in six months. But so far the council has made little progress toward setting up a system for choosing a constitutional assembly. Okay, so we give them a nudge. Neighboring Turkey has been the sole Muslim country to offer to send peacekeepers to Iraq, but the Governing Council and many Iraqis object, fearing that Turkey’s long-running conflict with its ethnic Kurds could spill over into Iraq’s Kurdish areas. A car bomb exploded Tuesday outside the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, killing two people. The Governing Council has been adamant that it does not want peacekeepers from neighboring countries, fearing they would end up interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs. Yep. At a news conference Wednesday, council members gave conflicting statements suggesting they did not want peacekeeping troops from Islamic or any other countries, but agreed on a rejection of forces from Iraq’s neighbors. "We do not prefer troops from neighboring countries to enter Iraq ... in fact we do not prefer forces from other Islamic countries to participate in Iraq because we believe that we, the people of Iraq, are capable of maintaining peace and security," Muhsin Abdul Hamid, a council member, told the news conference. "We are working very closely with the coalition forces in Iraq to find a reasonable, acceptable formula where the Iraqis themselves can be in charge of the security themselves instead of other forces, and we think we can meet that challenge," he added. So let’s get that Iraqi army and police force trained. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that Iraq did not want troops from its neighbors and that the "general view (is) we will not improve the security by bringing in more troops." Asked whether Iraq wanted to get to the stage as soon as possible where Iraqis were in charge without U.S. or British forces, Zebari responded: "Exactly, that’s right, and this process should start." The Iraqis are in Malaysia for a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a 57-nation group that worked for several days over a draft resolution welcoming the Governing Council to take the seat formerly held by Saddam Hussein’s government. But they threw the summit into uncertainty Wednesday by saying they might seek the postponement of the draft resolution, which also calls for the United Nations to have a "central role" in Iraq and for a "U.N. resolution to set a schedule for the return of power to the Iraqi people." Allawi told reporters: "The Governing Council is the central role in Iraq." Good, they’ve been paying attention to our ’discussions’ with the French at the UN. Zebari said there were "procedural problems" with the way the OIC resolution had been drafted by the foreign ministers and that Iraq’s representatives had not had a chance to approve it before its submission Thursday and Friday to OIC national leaders. The statement had been considered a breakthrough, allowing critics of the U.S.-led invasion to find common ground with Arab countries that have already recognized the council as a transitional government. Usual OIC progress. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Go the ground-up route. There are already popularly elected city councils all over the country. Let them choose their fair portion of delegates, or split it - the councils choose some, some are popularly elected in their own right. Avoid top-down like the plague at this point. The eventual constitution will provide the top-down system. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-16 11:48:17 AM |
| #1 "the people of Iraq, are capable of maintaining peace and security," Hmmm...impressive. Strange to hear words of strength and independence instead of the usual groveling, victimization and whining to mommy for a bigger allowance. |
| Posted by: B 2003-10-16 8:34:11 AM |