Behind the Scenes, U.S. Tightens Grip On Iraq's Future

[lanlady]

uploaded 16 May 2004

Hand-Picked Proxies, Advisers Will Be Given Key Roles In Interim Government

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and CHRISTOPHER COOPER

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Haider al-Abadi runs Iraq's Ministry of Communications, but he no longer calls the shots there.

Instead, the authority to license Iraq's television stations, sanction newspapers and regulate cellphone companies was recently transferred to a commission whose members were selected by Washington. The commissioners' five-year terms stretch far beyond the planned 18-month tenure of the interim Iraqi government that will assume sovereignty on June 30.

The transfer surprised Mr. Abadi, a British-trained engineer who spent nearly two decades in exile before returning to Iraq last year. He found out the commission had been formally signed into law only when a reporter asked him for comment about it. "No one from the U.S. even found time to call and tell me themselves," he says.

As Washington prepares to hand over power, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and other officials are quietly building institutions that will give the U.S. powerful levers for influencing nearly every important decision the interim government will make.

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http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=9556&TagID=2

[boobooday]

1. Utter madness

Chaos.

Thanks to BushCo. and his band of merry contractors.



http://www.wgoeshome.com

[UpInArms]

2. so sad that this man was surprised

as the thugs never planned nor plan to allow Iraq to govern itself.

The transfer surprised Mr. Abadi, a British-trained engineer who spent nearly two decades in exile before returning to Iraq last year. He found out the commission had been formally signed into law only when a reporter asked him for comment about it. "No one from the U.S. even found time to call and tell me themselves," he says.

Wake up, World! It's definitely a trick with mirrors and believing anything that passes from the lips of liars will doom everyone.

[soothsayer]

3. I don't think the Iraqis are going to be amused by this underhanded

sort of crap.

[struggle4progress]

4. Shameful! eom

[jpak]

5. A US puppet government in post-war I-raq?????

Whodathunkit????

[Karenina]

6. That *$$$dog$$$ won't hunt.

Gonna get his ass reddened up with buckshot.

[reprobate]

7. It won't work. We will have no influence over anything in iraq.

The shias and the sunis are now getting together to oppose the US.

When they decide that the time is right, our troops will face 100,000 insurgents or more. They will push us into the ocean.

You think we lost in viet nam? Just wait for this to be over. Never has a military invader prevailed over an insurgency when it had the support of the populace.

This is now the biggest foreign policy f'up in the history of the country. It will soon be the biggest military defeat in the history of the country. And who do we have to blame for it?

George, George, George of the Bungle.