http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9603771%255E1702,00.htmlINVESTIGATORS now suspect that a car bombing that killed the president of the Iraqi Governing Council may not have been the work of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as first believed, a senior US official said today.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told reporters that forensic evidence obtained at the site of Monday's bombing suggested that "it might have been an attack conducted by a different group because of methodology in some of the techniques that were used".
Kimmitt declined to elaborate. Yesterday, Kimmitt said the attack showed the "classic" hallmarks of an al-Zarqawi operation.
*****
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/14/reconstruction The Pentagon, the State Department and the U.N. are fighting over who controls postwar Iraq. It's a battle that could be more critical than the military campaign.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Michelle Goldberg
April 14, 2003 | The bloody fighting on the ground in Iraq may be drawing to a close, but in offices and back rooms in Washington, London, New York and Kuwait, the battle to control the country's reconstruction rages.
Three groups are vying for dominance -- the Pentagon and its neocon proxies, with their grand dreams of a new Middle East, the State Department realists, who fear Iraq could become a new Lebanon, and the United Nations, fighting the Pentagon's efforts to marginalize it. Which group prevails will determine, in part, what the next government of Iraq looks like, and whether the liberal democracy many exiles dream of is born and whether it survives.
Ultimately, there will be elections, so no group will be able to simply install Iraq's new leaders. But there are important open questions about when those elections will take place, under what kind of constitutional system, and who will rule the country in the interim. Whoever is running the country while the groundwork for democracy is being laid will be able to place Iraqis in temporary positions where they can consolidate power.
According to Aziz Al-Taee, chairman of the Iraqi American Council, 36 exiles, handpicked by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, have spent the past four weeks in Virginia training for prospective roles in a transitional Iraqi government. Whoever ultimately has the power to fill such roles will have the power, at least in the short term, to shape Iraqi politics.On Friday, Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq's transition to democracy would happen in three stages. America's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance will run the country in the immediate aftermath of the war. Meanwhile, Gen. Tommy Franks will hold meetings across the country to identify potential local leaders who can join Iraqi exiles in an interim authority. Once basic services are up and running in the country, Iraq's administration will be turned over to the Iraqi authority, which will govern until elections can be held.
*****
Note that there was also a fourth group vying for position here, namely the Iraqi Ruling Council, especially its recently departed President Ezzedin Salim. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE18Ak01.htmlSalim had advocated in recent days a continued role for the IGC. United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed abolishing the council on June 30 and replacing it with a caretaker government of technocrats. "We shall listen to the ideas of Mr Brahimi, but his ideas are not compulsory for us," Salim said this month. "The Governing Council is the one responsible for forming the government."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/la-fg-newgovern13may13,0,3610567.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlinesEzzedine Salim, president of the Governing Council, said most council members wanted to see government ministries remain divided among different political parties. The council also wanted some groups that were not represented to be added.
"We need to reduce the opposition to the government so it should include and represent all political strands," said Salim, a Shiite from the Dawa party.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/04/180c32cf-47d3-4274-a084-2330a0f515ce.htmlPrague, 15 April 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council is playing an active role in trying to calm Iraq's twin insurgencies against the U.S.-led occupation. Representatives of the council are reportedly working closely with Sunni authorities in the central town of Al-Fallujah to end clashes there between insurgents and the U.S. military that have claimed hundreds of lives.
In the south, the council is said to be brokering a deal between forces loyal to radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and moderate Shi'a elements to end a weeklong uprising that saw al-Sadr's militia take several Shi'a towns. The uprising was the strongest show of resistance to the U.S.-led occupation since the end of the war.
The 25-member council -- which until now was widely viewed as a docile supporter of the United States -- has been uncharacteristically harsh in its recent criticism of the U.S.-led coalition and bold in its negotiation efforts. Iraqi Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi set the tone for the council on 10 April, accusing the United States of conducting what he called an "illegal" and "unacceptable" offensive in Al-Fallujah.
(snip)
The situation is similar in the south, where council representatives are taking part in discussions to convince radical Shi'a cleric al-Sadr to abandon his insurrection and disarm his militia. Governing Council member Ezzedine Salim confirmed the council's involvement this week in a conversation with RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq.
"
sent a delegation to Al-Najaf to talk with religious scholars, Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr and his office. And these first thoughts regarding the solution to the crisis were then given to the top civil administrator in Iraq, Bremer. And the discussion between the group and Mr. Bremer would hopefully lead to finding a way to solve the crisis," Salim said.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
