Iraq to be led by committee, says Garner
A council of up to nine Iraqis will probably lead the country’s still unformed interim government through the coming months, the American civil administrator said today.
Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner also said he expects the newly-appointed L. Paul Bremer, former head of the State Department’s counterterrorism office, to take charge of the political process within the US post-war administration.
“What you may see is as many as seven, eight, nine leaders working together to provide leadership,” Gen Garner said.
He added that he did not know how the collective leadership would function specifically.
The Iraqi leaders Gen Garner referred to were Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi National Accord, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, whose elder brother heads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
The five met several times late last week, and at least one meeting was attended by White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
Gen Garner said the group would probably be expanded to include a Christian and perhaps another Sunni leader.
Mr Bremer is expected to arrive in Iraq by next week, Gen Garner said.
“He will get more involved in the political process. I’m doing all of it and don’t want to do all of it,” Gen Garner said.
He said the appointment of someone such as Mr Bremer had been planned all along and that he was intended to be there temporarily.
“I’ll stay a while. There’s got to be a good hand-off,” he said.
Gen Garner spoke as he prepared to leave for a one-day trip to Basra, where he will be visiting a school, a hospital and an oil refinery and will be conferring with a local sheik.
As his Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance works with the occupying US military force to restore order in Baghdad, Gen Garner said the coming weeks will be crucial to such efforts.
“The month of May is a key month for getting all the public services stood up or at least with a good prospect of being stood up and getting the law enforcement system back,” he said.
He said one disappointment so far has been his operation’s inability to inaugurate an extensive television and radio broadcast system for Iraq. Satellite TV has been available to only a few Iraqis.
“We haven’t done a good job,” Gen Garner said. “I want TV going to the people with a soft demeanour, programmes they want to see.”
