'Our' men in Baghdad By
Robert McMahon and Andrew Tully
NEW YORK -
United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told the UN
Security Council on Wednesday that despite the time
constraints and security concerns, it was possible to
form such a government in Iraq by the end of next month.
He gave few new details, but said it should be led by a
president and two vice presidents.
Brahimi said
its members could be drawn from a group of respected
individuals across the country following consultations
among the Coalition Provisional Authority, the Iraqi
Governing Council, and the UN.
One of the
caretaker government's first tasks, Brahimi said, is to
reach a clear understanding about its relationship with
the former occupying powers and any foreign forces
remaining in the country after the June 30 transfer of
sovereignty. "One of the reasons why I think it will be
good if this government was there, formed and accepted
by the beginning of June, is for them to have the time
to discuss with the occupying powers and with the United
Nations and with the Security Council how power is going
to be exercised after 30 June," he said.
During
the UN envoy's previous visits to Iraq this year, he
said many Iraqis conveyed their interest in convening a
national conference of at least 1,000 people from all
sectors of society. He recommended that an Iraqi
preparatory committee of distinguished citizens -
including prominent judges - be formed as soon as
possible to plan such a conference.
Brahimi said
the conference organizers should aim to begin the
session in July with the purpose of opening a national
dialogue and to appoint a council to advise the
government. "This conference would, to begin with, allow
such a wide and representative sample of Iraqi society
to talk to one another, to discuss their painful past as
well as the future of their country," he said.
Brahimi emphasized that the caretaker Iraqi
bodies should refrain from making any long-term policy
commitments. They should, he said, defer key decisions
to a government to be elected in January.
US
officials have given Brahimi the lead in shaping a new
governing arrangement in Iraq ahead of the planned
transfer of sovereignty. Brahimi is due to return to
Iraq soon to gauge Iraqi support for his transitional
plan.
The UN Security Council will need to adopt
a resolution on the sovereignty transfer plan once
Brahimi has finished his consultations in Iraq. Security
Council president Guenter Pleuger of Germany read a
council statement expressing its initial approval of the
Brahimi plan after Wednesday's meeting: "The Security
Council strongly supports the efforts and dedication of
the special adviser and welcomes the provisional ideas
he has submitted as a basis for the formation of an
interim Iraqi government to which sovereignty will be
transferred."
The statement called on Iraq's
neighbors and the international community to lend all
possible support to the UN-led political transition
efforts.
Though involved in close consultations
with US officials, Brahimi also repeated his warning
about a US escalation of military activities in the town
of Fallujah. He told the Security Council that fighting
there between US forces and Iraqi insurgents has already
caused many civilian casualties. Speaking shortly after
news reports carried coverage of a renewed US offensive,
Brahimi warned of its consequences. "Unless this
standoff - and now this fighting - is brought to a
resolution through peaceful means, there is great risk
of a very bloody confrontation," he said.
Also
on Wednesday, the Iraqi Governing Council announced it
was adopting UN recommendations on the formation of an
Iraqi independent election commission. The commission
will have an eight-member board of commissioners to
oversee preparations for elections early next year.
Negroponte on sovereignty The man
designated to run the new US mission in Iraq, UN
ambassador John Negroponte, faced questions about US
support for Brahimi during his confirmation hearing in
the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee in
Washington on Wednesday.
Negroponte stressed
Brahimi's importance in shaping the new Iraqi
transitional administration. "We strongly support
ambassador Brahimi's efforts and I think we will make
every effort to give his recommendations the greatest
possible weight," he said.
In the hearing, the
question of Iraqi sovereignty ahead of June 30 was
central to the discussions. On April 25, US Secretary of
State Colin Powell said the still-undefined government
set to take power in Iraq will have to "give up" some of
its sovereignty to allow the US military to provide
security in the country. A US State Department official
last week used the term "limited sovereignty".
For his part, Negroponte told the senators that
the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council now has what he
called "restricted" sovereignty, and that those
restrictions will be removed when its successor takes
over after June 30.
One of the senators on the
committee, Republican Chuck Hagel, pressed Negroponte
about the extent of that sovereignty. Specifically,
Hagel wanted to know how much influence Iraq's new
interim government might have in dealing with a
situation like the one in and around Fallujah, where US
forces have been fighting intermittently with insurgents
for the past three weeks.
Negroponte said that,
even now, according to a UN resolution, the Iraqi
Governing Council was "the embodiment of sovereignty" -
but that this sovereignty is restricted. After June 30,
however, the exercise of sovereignty will be restored to
the interim government, whose members will be chosen
with the help of the UN.
But Negroponte, echoing
Powell's recent comments, added: "There happens to be an
area where [Iraqis] are not yet in a position to fully
exercise their powers, and that is in the security area.
But I don't want to use any kind of terminology that
would in any way belittle the responsibilities that are
going to be taken over by the newly appointed, sovereign
government of Iraq."
As for dealing with
situations like the fighting in Fallujah, Negroponte
said it was still too early for the new Iraqi government
to take a leading role.
The chairman of the
Senate committee, Republican Richard Lugar, said that no
matter how much sovereignty Iraq's interim government
exercises, it is important that Negroponte be confirmed
quickly so that his embassy can operate smoothly on July
1. "We cannot simply turn on the lights at the [US]
embassy on June 30 and expect everything to go well," he
said. "We must be rehearsing with Iraqi authorities and
our coalition partners how decision-making and
administrative power will be distributed and exercised.
It is critical, therefore, that ambassador Negroponte
and his team be in place at the earliest possible
moment."
Negroponte said that it is equally
important that the makeup of Iraq's interim government
be known soon so that it, too, can be ready when
sovereignty is handed over. "The goal is to encourage
and do everything we can to ensure that that government
is established - probably identified earlier - much
earlier than July 1 - perhaps at the beginning of June,
for example, so that it can begin to ready itself to
take over its responsibilities on July 1," he said.
Negroponte said it will be equally critical for
other countries, under UN auspices, to send large
military contingents to help the US restore and maintain
order. He said that as the US ambassador to the United
Nations, he is working hard to get the Security Council
to authorize such a force.
Democratic Senator
Joseph Biden, the vice chairman of the committee,
agreed. He noted that many Bush critics have asked why
nations that opposed the US-led war in Iraq would want
to help Americans keep order there. In fact, Biden said,
stability in the Middle East is in everyone's interest.
"Why would anybody want to help? They didn't like what
we did. They didn't like the way we did it. They don't
like the way we're doing it now," he said. "So why would
they possibly come along and help? You at the United
Nations understand better than anybody: they can't
afford a civil war [in Iraq] either."
Under the
US constitution, the Senate must approve, or reject, a
president's ambassadorial nominees. Negroponte's
nomination is expected to be approved. But while the
hearing was mostly cordial, there were moments of
discord.
For example, Democratic Senator
Christopher Dodd said that, as ambassador, Negroponte
must be honest with the American people about the
situation in Iraq. Dodd referred to a time two decades
ago when Negroponte was the US ambassador to Honduras.
The administration of president Ronald Reagan was then
supporting the rebels opposing the Marxist government of
another Central American country, Nicaragua.
"It
is well known that ambassador Negroponte and I had some
differences many years ago when he was ambassador in the
1980s in Honduras. Those differences stemmed largely
from a lack of candor about what the US was and wasn't
doing in Central America in the conflict at that time.
And although I intend to support - and strongly support
- this nomination when it comes to a vote in this
committee, and later on the Senate floor, I want to make
one point especially clear: that same issue - candor -
in my view, is going to be critical with respect to
continued support for US policies in Iraq," Dodd said.
Dodd told Negroponte that it will be his
responsibility to notify President George W Bush and the
American people if the US is taking the wrong direction
in Iraq so that the course can be corrected quickly.
Otherwise, the senator said, his mission will be a
failure.
Copyright (c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave NW, Washington DC 20036
