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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BubbaFred who wrote (24003)	3/29/2003 11:04:10 PM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Iraqi opposition leader rejects post-war US military administration Sat Mar 29, 6:42 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo! story.news.yahoo.com LONDON (AFP) - The leader of a new grouping of Iraqi opposition figures in exile rejected plans for a US military administration in post-war Iraq (news - web sites). The group instead approved the creation of a provisional authority to administer the country after the war, in coordination with the United Nations (news - web sites). Adnan Pachachi said a US military administration was unacceptable, drawing applause from some 300 participants at a conference here. Reconstruction must be solely under Iraqi administration, he later told journalists. "Iraq is not Afghanistan (news - web sites) and possesses competent human resources," he stressed. The gathering of the Independent Iraqis for Democracy (IID) was attended by participants from around the world including Shiite and Sunni Muslims and Kurds. The exiles adopted by a show of hands a political declaration on the post-war future of Iraq. "The end of the war will very quickly create a political vacuum that must be filled by the installation of a provisional administration elected as quickly as possible by a congress," Pachachi told a press conference. The congress would have to be representative of varying political currents to provide a genuine democratic transition, the political declaration said. The 80-year-old veteran politician, scion of a distinguished Sunni family, was once Iraq's foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations. Exiled since the Baath Party took power in 1968, he lives in the United Arab Emirates and appears to have support from that and several other Gulf states. The political declaration said the task of the transitional authority would be "to administer the country in coordination with a special United Nations mission before transferring power to an elected government." "We have much work to do in the coming days and weeks," said Pachachi. The conference elected Pachachi chair of a follow-up committee but did not so far Saturday choose other members. The panel's task will be to make contact with governments and the UN Security Council to put over IID proposals. The IID consists mainly of liberal, independent figures. Participants at the meeting also included two important religious Shiite figures, Mohamed Bahr al Ulum, and Hussein al Sadr. It is keen to distinguish itself from the mainstream US-backed opposition, which consists of six groups including the Iraqi National Congress (INC) of Ahmed Chalabi and the two main Kurdish parties. "In our view political life must not be based on ethnic, religious or sectarian considerations," Pachachi told the press conference in an allusion to the other opposition movement. Washington has sounded Pachachi about his willingness to join a future administration. But while agreeing to serve during a transition period he said he vehemently opposed many US ideas for a post-war Iraq and the Middle East. "We want the UN to help us during a period of provisional administration," Pachachi told conference participants Saturday. Washington is reluctant to allow the UN a role in the post-war running of Iraq and hopes to run an interim military administration before handing over to a friendly government. Pachachi told the conference he wanted a provisional government with legislative and executive powers. Within two years "elections should be organized under international supervision" because Iraqis "should have their say in deciding their future". In a declaration of principles discussed at its meeting, the IID said: "The transitional government shall freeze the organisations of the Baath party" as the first step towards its dissolution, arrest its leaders, but also "protect its members from arbitrary acts of vengeance". The declaration added: "The transitional government will negotiate immediately with the United Nations to regain Iraq's full sovereignty over its land and its resources, denying the opportunity for occupying Iraq by foreigners." Conference participants expressed reserves about references to the Kurdish population in the political declaration, to be published later in final form. This mainly covered the future status of Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq held by the Kurds. The declaration expresses "respect for the national rights of the Kurdish people within one single Iraqi state."