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

To: lurqer who wrote (34389)	1/7/2004 2:27:48 AM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Somehow those silly Iraqis can't seem to follow the neo-con script. Senior Iraqi Urges U.N. to Enter Planning for Self-Rule A senior member of Iraq's interim authority appealed to the United Nations to play a direct role in planning Iraq's transition to self-rule and negotiating the future role of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, U.S. and U.N. diplomats said Tuesday. Abdel Aziz Hakim, a Shiite Muslim who was president of the U.S.-appointed Iraq Governing Council last month, asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in a confidential Dec. 29 letter to U.N. experts to Iraq to determine how to plan the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition. Senior U.N. diplomats said the appeal was aimed at ending a political impasse between Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who favors direct elections for a provisional government this summer, and other Iraqi political leaders who support U.S. plans to organize a series of regional representatives, or caucuses, to appoint new leadership by June 30. "Everyone agrees that there should be a provisional government by June 30," said one U.N. diplomat who was familiar with the contents of the letter. "But when it comes to the question of how you establish that government, there are two camps. [Hakim] wants the United Nations to find a way out." A senior council diplomat said Hakim's appeal lacks the full backing of the 24-member governing council. It also faces opposition from L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, and other coalition officials, who are reluctant to reopen discussions on a Nov. 15 agreement with the Iraqi council that outlines a carefully choreographed plan leading to the establishment of a provisional Iraqi government by June 30. Sistani has voiced concern that the arrangements for the establishment of a new government would place the country's Shiite Muslims, who account for more than 60 percent of the population, at a disadvantage. And he has proposed that general elections be held to select the country's transitional government. Hakim's political group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI), had initially relayed a request last month from Sistani to the United Nations to determine whether elections could be organized before June 30. But Annan indicated last month that there would not be enough time to hold credible elections. Hakim's latest initiative appeared calculated to enlist Annan's support in mediating a compromise. It also called on the United Nations to play a mediation role on a range of issues, including a request that the world body advise the Iraqis in their upcoming negotiations with the United States and its military allies on a security agreement that would determine the fate of the coalition's military presence in the country. Annan, who has yet to respond to Hakim's request, said he wants to see the U.N.'s role during Iraq's transition clarified at a Jan. 19 meeting with an Iraqi delegation headed by Adnan Pachachi, the current monthly president of the Iraq Governing Council; Hakim; and Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader who will preside over the council in February. Annan said he expects that the United States and Britain will send senior officials to participate in the meeting. washingtonpost.com JMO lurqer