Global Policy Forum

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran

The U.S. occupation authority has decided to handpick between 25 and 30 Iraqis to serve on an interim political council to advise U.S. officials on day-to-day governance issues rather than convene a large assembly where Iraqi delegates would debate the form and membership of their transitional administration, a senior U.S. official said today. Iraqis expected that an interim government would be chosen at a national conference next month attended by hundreds of representatives from the country's religious, ethnic and tribal groups. The assembly was regarded as the first and most significant step by the United States toward sharing power with Iraqis, who have increased their demands for self-governance. The interim government would have quickly assumed responsibility for non-security ministries, such as education and health. The Bush administration's decision to back away from such an open selection process, which U.S. officials had supported a few weeks ago, is the latest in a series of policy reversals. The U.S. occupation authority has been struggling to deal with public frustration at the slow resumption of basic services and the military's tardy response to postwar lawlessness.

The shift toward an appointed interim council appears to reflect U.S. concerns that allowing Iraqis to choose their leadership could deepen schisms between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, ethnic Arabs and Kurds, as well as formerly exiled political leaders and Iraqis who stayed in the country. Selecting the delegates who would appoint an interim government also had become an unexpectedly tricky problem. Former exile leaders were bristling at efforts by some U.S. officials to ensure that they did not dominate the selection of delegates to the conference, while some non-exiled leaders were complaining that the gathering was going to be too heavily weighted toward the exiles. The shift toward an interim council was driven by "an enormous and complicated agenda" for the reconstruction of Iraq after 35 years of Baath Party rule under former president Saddam Hussein, said the senior U.S. official, who spoke to a group of reporters here on the condition of anonymity. The official said the council could be formed within about six weeks.

Although the council will be selected by the U.S. and British governments, the official vowed that the council would be chosen "through a process of consultation" with Iraqis. "We are asking the Iraqis with whom we are in contact for their suggestions for who should be involved in this process," the official said. Ultimately, the official said, the council's membership will "emerge from a process of give and take with the Iraqis." The U.S. civilian administrator here, L. Paul Bremer III, briefed representatives of seven formerly exiled political groups about the planned council this afternoon. The participants included the Iraqi National Congress, which is headed by Ahmed Chalabi and enjoys support from senior officials in the Pentagon, the Shiite-dominated Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and two Kurdish political parties. Representatives of some of the groups, reached later by telephone, refused to comment publicly on Bremer's presentation, saying they planned to meet on Monday to formulate a joint response. Some said privately that they were discouraged by the plan and predicted that it would be criticized by ordinary people as a breach of a promise and an effort to prevent Iraqis from assuming even nominal authority over their country. "This is not what we were hoping for," said an official of one party briefed by Bremer.

U.S. and British officials said they had never promised to hold a large conference. "There had been a wide range of ideas," a British official involved with the occupation authority said. "A lot of people came to us and said, 'Don't do a national conference.' " "We're trying to find a middle road that will be practical," the British official said. But during public and private meetings with Iraqis in late April and early May, U.S. and British officials had voiced support for such a gathering. That backing dissipated, however, after the arrival of Bremer, a former State Department counterterrorism expert. Over the past two weeks, Bremer has reversed several policies enacted by his predecessor, retired Lt. Gen. Jay M. Garner, including one that allowed former Baath Party officials to work in the new government. The senior U.S. official said the size and composition of the interim council could be altered in response to feedback from Iraqis. "This whole process had to be informed by Iraqi views and preferences," the official said.

The official said members of the interim council would be asked to suggest key advisers to work in the top levels of government ministries. Eventually, the official said, some of those advisers could become "interim ministers" and could start "taking direction from the political council." But the official warned that such a transfer of power would not be automatic and instead would occur over time, as both the council and various ministry advisers gain the trust of the U.S. authority. The council also would be called upon by the U.S. authority to decide upon longer-term policy issues in such areas as education, trade and finance. Although it will mainly make recommendations to U.S. officials, the council will "begin an Iraqi formulation of the way ahead on a policy level," the official said.

The U.S. authority had previously indicated that it would not seek to tackle broader policy issues during the postwar period and instead would leave such decisions up to the country's new elected government. But over the past few weeks, as U.S. reconstruction specialists have become more familiar with the operation of Hussein's government, there has been a growing consensus that policy issues will have to be addressed sooner. Unlike earlier plans for a transitional government, the interim council would not be responsible for drafting a new constitution. That task would fall to another group of Iraqis, who could be chosen through a national convention, the official said. After a draft constitution is authored -- and presumably endorsed by the U.S. authority -- it would be put to a national referendum, the official said. Once it passes, national elections would be held to select a new government. Only after that occurs, the official said, would the U.S. government transfer full governing authority to Iraqis. U.S. forces continued to come under attack today. Two soldiers were wounded when an armored vehicle was hit by explosives outside the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad. Later, U.S. troops shot and killed an Iraqi outside the mosque.

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