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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (18311)	12/1/2003 11:15:23 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793681

U.S. Remains Firm on Iraq Plan URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104517,00.html Monday, December 01, 2003 WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is holding to the terms of its plan for transition to Iraqi rule by the end of next June, despite rumblings of Shiite disapproval. The plan provides for direct elections for a constitutional convention and another election to choose a new government, spokesman Richard Boucher (search) said Monday. Throughout the process, the United States will work with the Iraqi Governing Council (search) and the Iraqi people for a smooth transition, the U.S. spokesman said. The 25-member governing council approved the plan Nov. 15. It calls for choosing a legislature through regional caucuses. Then, the legislature would elect a provision government. But Iraq's powerful Shiite Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani (search), demanded the legislature be elected directly. Also, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a top Shiite Muslim who became the head of the governing council on Monday, complained that the council was pressured into approving the plan too quickly and without deliberation. Any delay or unraveling of the agreement could be a setback for the Bush administration. Responding to the Shiite criticism, Boucher said, "The agreement that we and the governing council reached remains in place." And, he said, "fair, free and direct elections are definitely part of this in order to choose the people who will write Iraq's constitution." Iraq will be the dominant theme for Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday when he attends the annual ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in the Netherlands. Powell, who was to depart Washington on Monday night, said in an interview last week that it is time for the United States and European countries to set aside differences over the wisdom of the U.S.-led war against Iraq. "We went to war. We now must come together and help build the peace," Powell said. He said he has delivered that message repeatedly to European leaders and, after his appearance Tuesday in the Netherlands, will do so again on Friday when he attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. After staying in the Netherlands, Powell will travel to Tunisia, the first stop on a North African swing that also will take him to Morocco and Algeria. In each country, Powell will discuss such issues as the war on terror, the situation in Iraq and President Bush's peace plans for the Middle East. He also will press for political and economic reform in all three countries. Powell on Sunday telephoned Foreign Minister Yoriko Kamagushi of Japan to express condolences and sympathy to the Japanese government and the families of two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq. "They have made a tremendous contribution to Iraq's reconstruction and will be greatly missed by their many friends in the coaltion authority," Boucher said. The main source of the attacks in Iraq on U.S. and allied governments and on new Iraqi authorities, he said, "are people who are upset by being displaced, people who used to have power and privilege who don't anymore, who resent that and who are trying to attack those who are taking over and trying to bring a better future for Iraq that doesn't involve the old regime." They are joined, Boucher said, by itinerant terrorists, many associated with Al Qaeda, the terror network headed by Usama bin Laden. President Bush, in a political speech in Dearborn, Mich., said supporters of deposed President Saddam Hussein and foreign terrorists are desperately trying to throw the country into chaos by attacking coalition forces, aid workers and innocent Iraqi citizens. "They know that the advance of freedom in Iraq, in the heart of the Middle East, would be a major defeat for the cause of terror," Bush said. "America will not be intimidated by a bunch of thugs and assassins."