Former Exiles Will Dominate Iraqi Council WP

[Nambe]

Washington Post

Iraqi leaders and the U.S.-led occupation authority agreed today to give a slight majority of seats on a 25-member governing council to people who had lived outside the limits of ousted president Saddam Hussein's government, Iraqis involved in the process said.

The makeup of the council, which will have broad executive powers during the postwar occupation, is a significant victory for political groups that had opposed Hussein's government from exile. But it is a reversal for the authority, whose leaders had planned to give Iraqis who lived under Hussein a majority on the council. U.S. and British officials here have been concerned that granting former exiles and ethnic Kurds a majority could weaken support for the council among the many Iraqis who view the former exiles with suspicion. ---

Banish bush From Texas Too

[UpInArms]

1. so when do we get to install Ahmed "the embezzler" Chalabi?

and this sentence was priceless:

officials here have been concerned that granting former exiles and ethnic Kurds a majority could weaken support for the council

[hedda_foil]

2. granting former exiles and ethnic Kurds a majority could weaken support

for the council.

Gee, do ya think?

Hoo boy! Get your front row seats for some major assasinations in Iraq. It's gonna be a hot time for Ahmed and the boys.

[indictrichardperle]

3. This just says it all

That piece of shit con-man Chalabi, who stole millions of US tax dollars, according to the CIA.....

Another horrible blunder by Bremer, any educated well meaning Iraqis who were ready to cooperate, just went over to the guerrilla side.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Ah, yes . . . the once and future Iraqi exiles

What do you call one would cooperated with a colonial government?

Traitor.

[NYC]

5. A DUer named it the Quisling Council.

Yes, I forget who.

[IndianaGreen]

7. and like traitors before them

they will either be killed by their angry compatriots, or forced to flee when the colonial army is forced to withdraw.

[PeanutOne]

6. What are the odds Cuba will be run by exiles before 2008?

It would be just the perfect way of portraying Jeb as a "freedom fighter." But can Karl divide his love between two Bush boys? Stay tuned.

[IndianaGreen]

8. WSWS: US convenes Iraqi council with aim of grabbing oil

Washington seeks cover for occupation
US convenes Iraqi council with aim of grabbing oil
By Bill Vann
12 July 2003

A new “governing council” appointed by Washington’s administrator in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, has been hailed by the Bush administration as a step toward democracy. However, numerous reports from both the US and Iraq indicate that the real function of this body will be to rubber stamp the privatization of the Middle Eastern country’s oil industry and the US expropriation of its earnings for years to come.

The so-called interim government, to consist of approximately 25 individuals hand-picked by Bremer, is to assemble this weekend for a formal swearing-in ceremony. It is to include right-wing, pro-US exiles, led by the convicted bank embezzler Ahmad Chalabi, Washington-backed Kurdish groups, and at least one Shiite Islamic group. The Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq told Bremer that it would not decide until Saturday whether it would participate. Its hesitancy reflects the growing hostility toward the US- British occupation among Iraq’s oppressed Shiite majority.

While the council was proposed by Bremer’s predecessor, retired General Jay Garner, as a means of lending the occupation an “Iraqi face,” Bremer backed off from initial pledges to convene a congress to select members of the body, and insisted that it would be no more than an advisory group. Over the past week, the US proconsul has tried to accommodate the groups and individuals agreeing to participate by affirming that they will “share responsibility” for governing the country, while “final authority” on every decision will rest with the US colonial authorities.

Among the principal concerns of US officials has been to parcel out the seats on the council to members of different ethnic groups and to include some relatively unknown women, apparently with the aim of lending the panel a superficial appearance of being representative. Excluded from the council, however, is anyone voicing opposition to the continued US occupation.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/iraq-j12.shtml

[study_war_no_more]

9. Puppet master sixteen?

This is such a scam.