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To: the navigator who wrote (20312)	5/21/2004 7:38:30 AM
From: xcr600	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

Perhaps.. but he'd been out of Iraq for so long, no one there recognizes him as a true Iraqi anyway. Seems the puppets are even getting sick and tired of their masters-- Iraq Governing Council Member Condemns U.S. Raid Fri May 21, 2004 05:52 AM ET By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A leading Iraqi politician said on Friday U.S. authorities were wrong to raid Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi's headquarters and accused them of trying to hijack Iraq's political future. Iraqis were paying the price of a year of mistakes by U.S. officials following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman told Reuters in an interview. He said U.S. officials should have at least consulted with the U.S.-appointed Council before American troops and Iraqi police stormed a home and offices of Chalabi, the former darling of the Pentagon. "We definitely don't approve of the way it was done. We think it is a violation of at least the Governing Council's authority," he said. A senior official in the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority said the raids were based on Iraqi charges including fraud. CBS television quoted unnamed U.S. officials alleging Chalabi had passed sensitive U.S. intelligence to Iran that could "get Americans killed." The move aggravated political tensions in Iraq just six weeks before the U.S.-led administration hands over sovereignty on June 30, amid an Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal that has hurt American credibility throughout the Middle East. The shape of the interim government is still not clear. Many Iraqis are suspicious of Governing Council members because they were appointed by the Americans. The council's president was killed in a suicide car bomb attack on Monday outside the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad. Othman, a member of the Kurdish minority that suffered badly under Saddam Hussein, rejected what he said was a U.S. bid to hand-pick the interim Iraqi government in talks with Iraqi politicians and United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. IRAQ FOR IRAQIS The government, he said, should be formed only after a national conference of Iraqis had nominated leaders. "Their idea, Brahimi and the Americans, is they will announce the government and the presidency and then in July or in August there will be a conference or Iraqi congress and that will elect a council, an advisory council," he said. "This is not a good idea. Our point of view, we proposed to them is that they should hold a national Iraqi conference before forming the government," he said. "You make a government for Iraqis, you don't make it for Americans or for the U.N. I think Iraqis should be given a say in it. Thay should have been allowed to have their own national conference and elect that government and elect the presidency." Many Iraqis celebrated when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam over a year ago. "What is happening now is the accumulation of one year of mistakes. I think the Iraqis expected when Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled that they should be allowed to rule their own country," said Othman. The U.S.-led authorities had failed to establish stability and security, he added. "The Iraqis had no powers, they were not allowed to do the job. The mistakes are there and we are paying the price of those mistakes." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © Copyright Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Any copying, re-publication or re-distribution of Reuters content or of any content used on this site, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent of Reuters. Quotes and other data are provided for your personal information only, and are not intended for trading purposes. Reuters, the members of its Group and its data providers shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the quotes or other data, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. © Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. reuters.com