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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (33335)	12/22/2003 3:39:09 PM
From: elpolvo	Respond to of 89467

lurq- fortunately you were sufficiently warned by the director of homeland security yesterday... bless his big orange heart. i don't know what we'd do without him. <g> -el cheek-o and da man

To: lurqer who wrote (33335)	12/22/2003 4:09:40 PM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

Time for Plan C? Bremer Meets With Bush to Discuss Iraq Power Transfer President Bush met this morning with the U.S. administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, who returned to Washington to brief leaders here about his efforts to shore up the U.S. plan to transfer political power to a new Iraqi provisional government in less than seven months. Bremer's visit comes at a time of sensitive political negotiations between U.S. officials and the factions in Iraq, particularly the majority Shiite Muslims over the transfer of power. The plan, which called for choosing new leaders through regional caucuses, was agreed to only last month by Bremer and the U.S.-appointed Governing Council. But the effort was challenged when Iraq's most influential Shiite Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, insisted on popular elections to select the new government leaders. U.S. officials are concerned that such elections could upset Iraq's minority Sunni Muslims and cause them to seek to destabilize a new Iraq. The concerns are reaching a sense of urgency among U.S. officials because the initial efforts of the complicated U.S. plan is to begin in early January with the selection of coordinating committees for the process. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld joined Bush and Bremer in their discussions today. Bremer also conferred today with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who is recuperating from prostate cancer surgery, and to meet again with Rumsfeld on Tuesday, his spokesman said. Speaking on the "Today" show this morning, Bremer acknowledged some of the concerns about the ongoing negotiations. "We have obviously got a very short time line because we're planning to hand over to the Iraqis by the end of June," he said. "That's going to take a lot of work, particularly by the Iraqis, who are going to have to get a major political dialogue going. They're going to have to find a way to select a transitional legislature. And we're working hard on that." Bremer had been expected back in Washington earlier this month, but that trip was postponed to give him more time to discuss options with Iraqi leaders. In his television interview today, Bremer also addressed a question about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's links to the al Qaeda terror network. "I think it's pretty clear, as we look back over the intelligence going back about 12 years, that there were connections, contacts, between al Qaeda and members of Saddam's regime," Bremer said. "There's no question that we now have many professional terrorists in Iraq, from al Qaeda, from Ansar al-Islam, and that these terrorists are basically anxious to make Iraq one of the fronts in the global war on terrorism." He also said that the capture of Hussein has allowed U.S. officials to make progress in their efforts to stabilize the country. "We've been arresting quite a number of his cronies and colleagues, including one last night. . . . [Saddam] has not been particularly cooperative, but we have been able to exploit some of the information and materials that we have uncovered in the course of the last week in this battle to see down these insurgents. And I think we'll find in the months ahead that that's going to be quite useful to us. washingtonpost.com I notice with "I think it's pretty clear, as we look back over the intelligence going back about 12 years, that there were connections, contacts, between al Qaeda and members of Saddam's regime" Bremer parrots the party line, but offers no independently verifiable proof. As for "There's no question that we now have many professional terrorists in Iraq, from al Qaeda, from Ansar al-Islam, and that these terrorists are basically anxious to make Iraq one of the fronts in the global war on terrorism." I would only change "these terrorists" to "the CPA and DoD". JMO lurqer