US-UK put off plans to allow "interim" government for Iraq

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Just as predicted, even the semblance of Iraqi self-rule will not be allowed, and the US-UK occupation forces plan to rule directly for an “indefinite period”.

In Reversal, Plan for Iraq Self-Rule Has Been Put Off

In an abrupt reversal, the United States and Britain have indefinitely put off their plan to allow Iraqi opposition forces to form a national assembly and an interim government by the end of the month. Instead, top American and British diplomats leading reconstruction efforts here told exile leaders in a meeting tonight that allied officials would remain in charge of Iraq for an indefinite period, said Iraqis who attended the meeting. It was conducted by L. Paul Bremer, the new civilian administrator here. Mr. Bremer, who was accompanied by John Sawers, a British diplomat representing Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the Iraqi political figures that the allies preferred to revert to the concept of creating an “interim authority” not a provisional government so that Iraqis could assist them by creating a constitution for Iraq, revamping the educational system and devising a plan for future democratic elections. “It’s quite clear that you cannot transfer all powers onto some interim body, because it will not have the strength or the resources to carry those responsibilities out,” The Associated Press quoted Mr. Sawers as saying. “There was agreement that we should aim to have a national conference as soon as we reasonably could do so.” One Iraqi who attended the meeting said Iraqi opposition leaders expressed strong disappointment over the reversal. The decision comes at a time when Washington and London have been taking new steps to restore law and order in Iraq, cope with the devastation of civilian institutions and halt the looting and violent crime. These conditions have emboldened former opposition figures to move rapidly into the political vacuum in Iraq, and former members of Saddam Hussein 's government and the Baath Party to blame the allies for fomenting collapse, unemployment and suffering among the population.

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Now it’s been delayed further…

Iraqi Gov’t Conference Delayed Until July](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20030521/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_new_government)

What are the US occupiers scared of?

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Democracy is good... unless it leads to anti-American government. Then democracy must be surpressed at all costs.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
Now it's been delayed further...

Iraqi Gov't Conference Delayed Until July
What are the US occupiers scared of?
[/QUOTE]

July 2007/8?

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Women - next to children and the elderly, are always the most adversely affected group in times of conflict and political instabilities.

Men always start the wars, and women always pay the price.

Iraqi Women Out of the Picture: Prominence in Public Life Disappears in Postwar Fear
Washington Post, Carol Morello, 17 May 2003 [Excerpts only; article is extremely long but worth the read]

…] Still, some worry that women are being sidelined as never before. Thikra Nadr, a novelist in her mid-forties who published a tale about a government that ruined the country through deprivation and war, said she cannot remember a time when women had less visibility or freedom.

“The long period of sanctions reduced the role of women in Iraq,” she said as a generator roared across the street from her ground-floor apartment in the middle-class Mansour district. “But this period we’re living in right now has completely canceled the role of women in society.”

Iraqi women have attended universities for decades. They were well represented in medicine, engineering, academia and the civil service. The Baathist government made education mandatory for girls; the number of girls attending school at all levels tripled in the 1970s after the Baath takeover.

The only legally permitted women’s organization in Iraq, however, was the General Federation of Iraqi Women, an arm of the government that allowed no criticism of the government. While Iraq’s constitution expressly outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender, in practice the government’s edicts restraining individual liberties and the woeful economy caused women to backslide along with the rest of the country.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Changez_like: *

July 2007/8?
[/QUOTE]

Or longer...

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i remember someone on this board arguing, prior to the war, that ‘managing’ Iraq’s diverse ethnic groups would be an extremely challenging task. Now we are seeing that ethnic tension between Arabs and Kurds is on the increase, evidenced by such situations as some Kurds forcibly evicting Arabs from their residences (and vice versa). So much for increasing stability.

Row overshadows Kirkuk poll, BBC, 24 May 2003

Arab and Turkmen leaders in the oil-rich Iraqi town of Kirkuk are protesting against the results of elections for a local council, a vote which US officials had hoped would ease ethnic tensions. Some 300 delegates had gathered on Saturday to elect 24 members of the 30-seat city council, billed by the US as another key step in efforts to establish local authorities in Iraqi towns.

But the election in the multi-ethnic town, which includes Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Assyrian Christians, was overshadowed by complaints that Kurds made up most of the six “independent” candidates appointed by the US in addition to the 24.

“They must revise this decision, there is no alternative,” said Mustafa Kemal Yaycili, local head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front. “We have made a written petition to the US general and he has promised to reconsider.”

The town has long been seen as a potential powder keg as a result of Saddam Hussein’s efforts to alter its ethnic balance by forcing Kurds from their homes and allowing Arabs to move in.

Ten people were killed in clashes last week sparked by the fact that Arabs now claim to be the majority in a traditionally Kurdish town.

American authorities controlling the city decided each of the four communities, as well as the US, should have equal representation on the new council. The respective ethnic groups therefore selected 24 representatives - six for each community. The US, however, appointed six more from a list of around double that number who had been elected by 144 independent delegates to the gathering.

The six comprised four Kurds, one Assyrian and one member of an ethnically mixed tribe.

US Major General Raymond Odierno, who made the selection, said he would take the protests into account. “I will conduct a personal review of the independents’ representations and tomorrow I’ll make a decision,” he said. The council arrangement is an interim one, but coalition troops are nonetheless calling it another step towards democracy.

Since the war, tens of thousands of Kurds have poured back into the city and returned to their homes to find them now demolished or owned by Arabs.

Resettling the Kurds will be one of the most explosive issues facing the city’s new council although its power over the matter will be limited, said BBC correspondent Barbara Plett. She said the Kurds did not have a lot of confidence in any new council, but as Kirkuk is central to their plans for self-determination it is in their interests to become the majority again.