New Iraqi governig council holding first meeting

The first post-Saddam Hussein governing body of Iraqis will hold its inaugural meeting today, a watershed event on the nation’s path to democracy, said the top US administrator, promising the council will have “real political power”.

Iraqi political leaders and the US-led provisional government were in the final stages of setting up the political body, according to diplomats and negotiators, who expected the formal announcement of the council’s make-up as soon as today.

Paul Bremer, Iraq’s American administrator, said the Governing Council of Iraq planned to meet for the first time today and is part of the US “plan to support the establishment of this government of, by and for Iraqis”.

In an opinion piece on the New York Times website yesterday, Mr Bremer wrote: “It represents all the strands from Iraq’s complicated social structure - Shiites, Sunnis, Arabs, Kurds, men and women, Christians and Turkmens.

“The council will immediately exercise real political power, appointing interim ministers and working with the coalition on policy and budgets.”

In another step forward, the US military said it was turning control of a restive western city over to Iraqi police, the first time coalition forces have agreed to leave security in the hands of local law enforcement in a major population centre.

Iraq’s seven main groups that opposed Saddam’s rule and other political leaders met yesterday in Baghdad and were hoping to hold a final organisational meeting in the capital today, said Adel Noory Mohammed, a leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Union. He said final details, such as how to announce the council, were still being worked out.

Mr Bremer had scheduled a news conference for yesterday at which he was expected to announce the council, but the meeting was cancelled and no reason was given.

Many Iraqi political leaders want the council to announce itself, to give the appearance of independence from the occupying powers. Others want to hold a joint news conference with top US officials to highlight cooperation.

The council will consist of 25 to 30 prominent Iraqis and will have the power to name ministers and select an independent central bank governor. It will be consulted by Iraq’s American leaders on all important issues and is meant to be the forerunner of a larger constitutional assembly that will have about a year to draft a new constitution.

National elections to select a fully sovereign Iraqi government are expected to follow sometime in late 2004 or early 2005.

The US promised a constitutional assembly would be set up within weeks in the aftermath of Saddam’s fall in April. But they revised their plans several times.

The governing council had at first been envisioned as a consultative panel, but Mr Bremer later acceded to Iraqi demands for real political power.

US backtracking on the issue has fueled a growing perception among Iraqis that the American mission amounts to colonisation rather than liberation, and US troops have become the daily targets of a growing insurgency.

“If the Americans do not get this done quickly they will lose even more legitimacy and popularity in the eyes of the Iraqi people and they will put themselves under enormous pressure,” said Mohammed of the Kurdistan Islamic Union ”The new government, if it is a strong government, will have the respect of the Iraqi street, and people will obey it.”

The council is expected to have a Shiite majority. Sixty percent of Iraq’s 24 million people are Shiite Muslims, but the country has been ruled for decades by minority Sunnis led by Saddam.

Internationally known former exiles like Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Council and former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi, and Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani are expected to be on the panel. Groups that remained in Iraq during Saddam’s 23-year rule will have a more prominent role, the western diplomat said.

Women – who make up 55% of Iraq’s population after decades of war – and minorities also will be represented.

In another sign of America’s emerging attitude of compromise, the military said yesterday it was sharply cutting back its presence in Fallujah at the request of police and the US-appointed mayor after several attacks in the town by Saddam loyalists.