Power Transfer in Iraq Starts This Week
Deadline for Completion Is Set as Talks Continue
By Robin Wright and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 4, 2004; Page A01
After eight months of debate and delay, the United States this week will formally launch the handover of power to Iraq with the final game plan still not fully in place.
The United States begins the complicated political, economic and security transfer with a general framework and a June 30 deadline for completion. But critical details are still being negotiated between the Iraqis and U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer, some of which could determine whether the new Iraqi government is ultimately embraced by the majority of Iraq's 22 million people.
"We're open to refinement, and we're waiting to hear what people have suggested or will suggest," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in an interview. "What Ambassador Bremer and all of us have been doing in our conversations is listening and hearing and [saying], 'Are there better ideas that would make the plan more refined, better and more acceptable to a broader group of individuals and leaders within Iraq?' " Besides figuring out who will rule in Saddam Hussein's wake, Iraqis over the next two months will have to answer a host of deferred and potentially divisive questions: What kind of government will Iraq have? What will be the role of Islam? How much local rule will ethnic, tribal or religious groups have?
The deadline is Feb. 28 for agreement on these and other basic questions, due to be codified in the recently renamed Transitional Administration Law, the precursor to a constitution.
A month later, Iraqis have to determine their relationship with U.S. troops -- and therefore the United States -- after the handover. One of the thorniest issues will be giving U.S. troops immunity from prosecution for any action they may take, a standard U.S. demand when it deploys troops abroad. But Iraq presents a different set of issues than what American forces face in peaceful environments such as Germany, Italy and South Korea inasmuch as U.S. soldiers could still be fighting in a country not under U.S. control.
Iraqis, who like to note that they have less time than the U.S. founding fathers did to come up with a constitution and new government, are already worried -- and predicting problems. "This is the decisive period -- and we will probably go to the brink a few times before we make those decisions," a prominent Iraqi politician said.
U.S. officials say Washington plans to resolve many of these remaining questions in negotiation with the Iraqi Governing Council, whose initial incompetence precipitated the delays that forced the United States to design the Nov. 15 agreement. The accord outlines the multiphase process, centered on provincial caucuses, to select a provisional government.
Seven weeks after the accord, however, the council has been unable to close the wide differences of opinion among rival Iraqi leaders, ranging from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to the Sunni community once protected by Hussein.
Sistani, a Shiite Muslim cleric who has a larger public following than any other Iraqi, has demanded elections to pick Baghdad's post-occupation government. But no compromise has been reached, despite a stream of communications among Sistani, Bremer and the Governing Council -- leaving the legitimacy of the process in doubt, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.
As the effort to turn over power begins in earnest, symbolic actions are planned: town halls to launch a nationwide political dialogue, graduation this week of an Iraqi army battalion, completion of the new currency exchange, the first cell phone system.
"This next month, we have a thousand things going on. We're drinking out of a fire hose," a senior U.S. official in Baghdad said.
Washington wants to begin transferring specific duties to Baghdad so that inexperienced Iraqis do not suddenly find themselves assuming total responsibility in six months.
In a step pivotal to the transition, Iraq will also once again be the focus of debate at the U.N. Security Council on Jan. 19, when the Iraqi council will appeal for the world body to return. But senior members of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority may not attend the meeting, despite a personal summons by Secretary General Kofi Annan. Repeatedly burned at the United Nations on Iraq, Washington wants the Iraqis to make their own case to the United Nations this time, U.S. officials say.
"It's time that Iraqis begin representing themselves -- and that the world recognizes that fact," a State Department official said.
The toughest task facing the United States now, many U.S. officials say, is figuring out a way to broaden political participation, the core issue in the debate over elections. The Bush administration refuses to budge from the Nov. 15 agreement, in part for fear that further demands could delay the transition.
To bring more Iraqis into the process, the United States is tinkering with the formation of new Iraqi political bodies -- often creatively but also in piecemeal fashion, based largely on local factors and preferences rather than a uniform standard nationwide.
As a first step, the United States has begun to reconfigure dozens of local city councils originally appointed by U.S. military commanders or provisional authority officials in the field. Some councils have been virtually dissolved, whereas others have only had new members added. The approach usually depends on local politicians and input from the Iraqi Governing Council members from the area.
The United States faces another crucial step in the process of selecting a government this week with the creation of coordinating committees. That selection process could last two months.
In each of Iraq's 18 provinces, 15-member committees are to select members for caucuses, which will in turn pick legislators for a new national assembly. The exact number in parliament, and whether it has one chamber or two, is another issue to be determined. The legislature will then pick the government.
U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad are exploring ideas that will combine this formula with some form of elections, again perhaps differing in key areas, to accommodate Sistani's demand. The administration believes it can find common ground.
"The ayatollah has raised issues with respect to how you do the caucus elections, and I think it's safe to say that we are in a dialogue with him and with others who have an interest in how one actually goes about selecting a transitional assembly and a transitional government," Powell said.
One idea being discussed is having quick local elections for some delegates to the coordinating committees. Under the current formula, in each province five of the 15 members are appointed by the Governing Council, five by the provincial council and one from each of the five largest cities. One problem, however, is whether elections for only five of the delegates from major cities would satisfy Sistani's call for public input rather than appointment.
The future of the 25-member Governing Council, handpicked by Bremer, must also be decided. Some members argue that it should be preserved as the second chamber of an Iraqi legislature, an idea U.S. officials and many Iraqis oppose. The United States continues to be frustrated by council members, their personal ambitions and their divisive politics, although U.S. officials give them credit for making a more earnest effort recently.
"Ambassador Bremer has a strong working relationship with the Governing Council, and we are eager to move forward on the November 15 political agreement as signed and published," said Dan Senor, the U.S. spokesman in Baghdad. Washington hopes that the various town halls -- one has been held in Basra, another will take place in Mosul soon -- will help generate ideas and feedback for "refinements" in the plan.
"We're engaged in a robust effort to get all parties engaged in this process. We're going to be doing a lot of things over the next few weeks. There's a lot that needs to happen, given the timeline to get all the critical parties to buy into the political process," a senior U.S. official said.
But as the countdown begins to the formal handover, time is also running short.
"We have a six-month marathon ahead of us, so we're lacing up our shoes and getting ready to roll. It's not one thing or another dominating the agenda," the senior administration official said. "It's keeping all the balls in the air and jogging forward at the same time." |
