Garner: Work on New Iraq Government to Start Soon
asia.reuters.com
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Formation of a new Iraqi government will start next week, the country's U.S. administrator said on Thursday, after American forces netted four more senior members of Saddam Hussein's old guard.
Speaking after talks with some of the country's prospective new leaders, retired U.S. general Jay Garner told a Baghdad news conference: "I think you'll begin to see the governmental process start next week, by the end of next week. It will have Iraqi faces on it. It will be governed by the Iraqis."
But Iraqis who attended the meeting expressed impatience about the failure of U.S. forces to restore essential services and law and order in the battered capital. A U.S. official described the tone of the closed-door meeting as "spirited and sometimes emotional."
Retired English teacher Youarash Haidoua said that Garner had told them "We are trying to do our best." But Haidoua added: "We need security, we need peace, we need law."
As part of the process of replacing the ousted Saddam government, a number of Iraqi political groupings are to meet U.S. officials in Baghdad on Monday, following an initial meeting near the southern city of Nassiriya last week.
Garner's talks with about 60 Baghdad academics and community leaders on Iraq's future took place at a conference center in the capital close to Saddam's bombed-out main palace complex.
Garner urged Iraqis to get back to work after the three-week war that evicted Saddam but left much of the country in chaos. He said Iraq should build on its proud history and oil wealth.
Among the latest Saddam aides arrested was Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti, commander of Iraq's air defenses. At number 10 on the U.S. list of 55 most wanted fugitives, he is the highest ranking catch yet.
Another top figure in custody is military intelligence chief Zuhayr Talib Abd al Sattar al Naqib, who gave himself up in Baghdad. General Naqib figures on the list in 21st place.
In a sign that some normality is returning to the war-torn country, a U.S. reconstruction official said oil production was expected to resume in northern Iraq in the next two days.
"We...anticipate in the next day or two to pump about 60,000 barrels per day in the north into the Baiji refinery," said General Carl Strock, a member of Garner's reconstruction team.
The U.S. military said that it was questioning some of its soldiers over the alleged theft of part of a multi-million-dollar haul of cash found in Baghdad a week ago.
They gave no details of who was being questioned but said the investigation concerned money found on April 18, when members of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division stumbled on more than $650 million in banknotes in Baghdad. "All money found is the property of the Iraqi people," a Central Command spokesman in Qatar said. "The riches of the nation of Iraq, whether money, oil or art, belong to the people and we intend to ensure they get it."
Garner's meeting venue in the capital was ringed by tanks and other armored vehicles following anti-American demonstrations by Iraqis demanding that the U.S.-led troops who ousted Saddam two weeks ago get out of the country.
Iraq's majority Shi'ites, some of whose leaders went to Iran's Islamic republic to escape Saddam's repression, have been prominent in protests against a continued U.S. presence, raising alarm in Washington over Tehran's influence.
The Shi'ites showed their strength and organizational ability this week when they held a long banned pilgrimage in the holy city of Kerbala, attended by more than a million faithful.
Garner's deputy, British general Tim Cross, said Iraqis must be allowed to vent their fury after decades of repression, but he told reporters he did not want to see this lead to a fundamentalist religious government like that in Shi'ite Iran.
Cross said he did not believe all of Iraq's Shi'ites wanted such a government either. "I genuinely believe that many of these people want to be part of a democratic Iraq," he said.
Iran rejected on Thursday U.S. suggestions that Tehran was interfering in Iraq and said it was not seeking to promote the political role of Shi'ites in its western neighbor. Washington had warned Tehran to stay out of Iraqi politics amid concerns that it was seeking to encourage the creation of a fellow Islamic republic there. The United States believes Iranian-trained agents have crossed into southern Iraq since the fall of Saddam and are working to advance Iranian interests.
TEHRAN "NOT INSISTING"
"Naturally the majority of Iraq is Shi'ite but we are not insisting on (the role of the) Shi'ites," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told a news conference on Thursday.
"For us, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Turks and Arabs are the same and everybody should play their role in a democratic Iraq," he said.
Garner told the Iraqis attending the Baghdad meeting that his job was "to stabilize the environment and to allow you to begin to rule your country."
The retired general, who heads the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, added:
"Our purpose here in your country is to create an environment for you so that we can begin a process of government that leads to a democratic form...a government that is a mosaic of the Iraqi people. I think we can do this rapidly."
A U.S. official who asked not to be named said those invited to the talks were not being endorsed for leadership positions.
"We are not anointing these people as the future leadership," the official said.
Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress and reputedly a Pentagon favorite, did not attend. Nor did Baghdad's self-appointed mayor, INC official Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi.
Garner again distanced himself from Chalabi on Thursday, and disowned Zubaidi. He told the news conference that U.S. forces would remove the "mayor" if the people of the capital so wished.
Seemingly undeterred, Zubaidi toured city water facilities and hospitals, an aide said. He also met the heads of the 22 popular committees he set up to function in place of ministries.
Apart from Muzahim and Naqib, the two high-profile detainees overnight, U.S.-led forces were also holding trade minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, No. 48 on the U.S. list, and Salim Sa'id Khalaf Al-Jumayli, ex-American desk chief at Iraqi intelligence.
Eleven men on the "most-wanted" list have now either surrendered or been captured. Three others are dead.
The whereabouts of Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, remain a mystery. |
