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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (120565)	11/27/2003 9:55:59 AM
From: GST	Respond to of 281500

As the future leader of Iraq, he just wants to give people in the US a chance to get used to the idea.

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (120565)	11/27/2003 11:14:15 AM
From: E. T.	Respond to of 281500

... as the Post makes clear, and as the NYT itself briefly mentions, Sistani isn't rejecting the U.S. plan; he wants to tweak it. "This is a negotiation," a top Shiite politician told the Post. "We're looking for compromise." U.S. officials seem open to that. "The nub of this is, how do we get to enough elections in enough places to satisfy the ayatollah's insistence on elections," one official says in the NYT. "We should be able to do it." It's also worth keeping in mind that Sistani didn't give any of these opinions himself. He doesn't talk to the press or U.S. authorities. Instead, his messages yesterday were passed along by a top Shiite political leader--who of course may be spinning a touch. The NYT all but skips mentioning that. The Post does a good job of detailing the U.S.'s current plan, and how it's less than democratic: "Bremer's plan calls for caucuses in the country's 18 provinces to choose representatives to serve on a transitional assembly, which would form a provisional government. Participants in the caucuses must be approved by 11 of 15 people on an organizing committee, which will be selected by the Governing Council and U.S.-appointed councils at the city and province level." (The NYT characterizes this process as "indirect elections.") Direct elections are penciled in for March 2005. The NYT notices another Iraqi who isn't happy with the U.S. plan: Former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, who said, "The whole thing was set up so President Bush could come to the airport in October for a ceremony to congratulate the new Iraqi government. Today's Papers www.slate.com