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

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (133071)	5/14/2004 6:02:15 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

You fail to recognize the distinction between those things I can HELP change for others who want to change; those things I can change in MYSELF through force of my will; and those things I CANNOT change in OTHERS through the force of my will. Iraq is in the third category. Well, that's great to hear that can help those who want to change. But I still don't hear whether you're WILLING to help them.. news.yahoo.com Surveys: More Iraqis Want Democracy Fri May 14, 2:22 PM ET By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer PHOENIX - Iraqis are likely to say they want to live in a democracy, though they don't necessarily understand how it works. Some pollsters who have done nationwide surveys of Iraq (news - web sites) in recent months talked about their findings at a meeting this week of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. One barrier to democracy is that many in the country need more information about how it would work, their research suggests. "There's the sense that people in Iraq know they want democracy, but they don't know how to get there," said Christoph Sahm, director of Oxford Research International. Sahm's firm conducted its first nationwide poll of Iraq last fall, and conducted another in February for ABC News, the British Broadcasting Corp., the German broadcasting network ARD and the Japanese network NHK. Oxford is continuing to poll in Iraq. Richard Burkholder, director of international polling for Gallup, said the type of government Iraqis preferred was a multiparty democracy like those in many Western European countries. "Very low down the list is an Islamic theocracy, in which mullahs and religious leaders have a lot of influence, such as in Iran," said Burkholder, who polled in Baghdad in August and nationwide in late March and early April for CNN and USA Today. In the most recent Gallup poll, four in 10 said they preferred a multiparty parliamentary democracy — that was the form of government most often mentioned. When Oxford Research International asked Iraqis in a separate poll to name the party they favored or the candidate they backed, the majority offered no preference on either question. For Sahm, the inability or unwillingness to answer those questions indicates Iraqis have much to learn about how democracies and political parties work after decades living in a country ruled by a dictator. Sahm and Burkholder said they've found Iraqis have a sense of optimism about the future of their country. But they understand that nothing can be achieved until the nation is more secure. Both pollsters found Iraqis very willing to share their feelings. Burkholder recounted how a transitional Iraqi government minister initially told his team Iraqis would not talk to pollsters. But as soon as the minister left the room, another Iraqi laughed and told the Gallup pollster: "Don't pay any attention to him, he's been in Minneapolis for the last 19 years." Added Sahm, "The response has been tremendous. We go into 100 households and only four or five refuse. It's unheard of." A recent Pew Research Center study of response levels in the United States found that only about one in four people contacted agreed to participate in a survey conducted over several days. Both pollsters found Iraqis growing more impatient with the presence of coalition troops, even before the prison abuse controversy emerged. However, most favored getting rid of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Iraqis have identified some successful areas in post-Saddam Iraq, the pollsters found. "One of the things that comes up again and again as a success in the transition so far is education," Sahm said. He also mentioned increasing trust in the Iraqi police and the new Iraqi army. "When we see the images of war and terror on the TV screen," Sahm said, "it's hard to believe that behind all of this, many Iraqis are leading normal lives and going about their business.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (133071)	5/15/2004 12:21:20 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Powell Says Troops Would Leave Iraq if New Leaders Asked _______________________________________________ By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, May 15, 2004; Page A01 washingtonpost.com Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, joined by the foreign ministers of nations making key contributions of military forces in Iraq, emphatically said yesterday that if the incoming Iraqi interim government ordered the departure of foreign troops after July 1, they would pack up without protest. "We would leave," Powell said, noting that he was "not ducking the hypothetical, which I usually do," to avoid confusion on the extent of the new government's authority. His statement, which was echoed by the foreign ministers of Britain, Italy and Japan, and by the U.S. administrator in Iraq, came one day after conflicting testimony on Capitol Hill by administration officials on the issue. Testifying before the House International Relations Committee on Thursday, Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman appeared to say that the interim government could order the departure of foreign troops, only to be contradicted by Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp, sitting at his side, who asserted that only an elected government could do so. Iraqi elections are scheduled for January. U.S. officials emphasized that they could not imagine the new government requesting the departure of almost 170,000 troops when the security situation in the country is so dire. But the new government's ability to assert its authority after the occupation authority dissolves on June 30 has been a central question in the international consultations over the shape of the incoming government, with the United States under pressure to transfer as much political power as possible to the Iraqi people. "The Iraqi government has to be in a position to govern, and that's why I mean that it has to be a break with the past, " French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said at a news conference in Washington after a preparatory meeting for next month's Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Ga. Barnier had been harshly critical of U.S. actions in Iraq before he arrived in Washington, seeming to equate U.S. and Israeli actions in an interview with Le Monde published on Thursday. "What strikes me is the spiral of horror, of blood, of inhumanity that one is seeing on all fronts, from Fallujah to Gaza and in the terrible images of the assassination of the unfortunate American hostage," he told the newspaper. "It all gives the impression of a total loss of direction." French, Russian and Italian officials pressed yesterday for the new government to be given the authority to halt military actions by U.S. forces. Powell rejected that, saying the forces will remain under the command of an American who "has to be free to take whatever decisions he believes are appropriate to accomplish his mission." Powell said the Bush administration will set up "political consultative processes" that will keep the interim government informed about military plans and actions. He said the "various liaison organizations and cells" will also give the Americans "full insight into any sensitivities that might exist within the Iraqi interim government concerning our military operations." But Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters that an "effective transfer of power" would allow the Iraqis to halt potential military attacks. "Effective transfer of power means that Iraqi forces should have the right and the power to have a say in decisions about their territory," Frattini said. "If we imagine a unilateral decision by coalition forces after June 30, without listening to the Iraqi people or without giving them the power to say no, there won't be a transfer of power. And, in fact, what we want is that there is such power for the Iraqi people." The open dispute between representatives of the leading industrialized nations over how to proceed in Iraq was evident despite a plea from President Bush for cooperation. The foreign ministers met briefly with the president. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush and the ministers talked about the "mission they're working to accomplish in Iraq and about the importance of putting aside past differences and all of us working together." The French, Russian and Canadian representatives made it clear that they will not supply troops for Iraq but that they are willing to help with reconstruction. "I have said this already, and I'm saying once again, that there will be no French troops -- not here, not now, not tomorrow," Barnier said. The foreign ministers' discussions yesterday also focused on narrowing differences over the Bush administration's efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East. European and Arab officials have resisted what they regard as a heavy-handed attempt by the administration to prod autocratic governments in the region to yield political power. Officials said yesterday that there is an emerging consensus to support a "Middle East forum" that would bring together governments, businesses and nongovernmental groups to discuss reform goals. "This is an idea that is really going forward rather rapidly," a European official said, adding that there is still concern over the tone of the document the Americans want the G-8 to adopt at the summit. The administration appeared to be inching toward the European position that progress on the Arab-Israeli conflict would assist efforts to promote Arab political reforms. © 2004 The Washington Post Company