Deep divides halt key Iraq meeting - (No parliament chosen as scheduled)

[LittleApple81]

Deep divides halt key Iraq meeting

A national conference to choose a de facto parliament is postponed under pressure from the UN and Iraqi groups.

By Annia Ciezadlo | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD – It was intended as a baby step into participatory democracy, the country's first foray into nation-building. But Iraq's national conference was postponed Thursday for the second time amid allegations of mismanagement and botched local caucuses.
Fuad Masoum, the official in charge of arranging the conference, announced that it would be delayed for two weeks. Mr. Masoum, who had earlier decided to go ahead with the conference, had faced relentless pressure from Iraqi leaders and the United Nations to postpone it.
We told him that the caucuses must be nullified, that they would have to do another round, because no one knew about them," said Sheikh Fatih Kashif al-Ghitta, an independent Shiite political leader. "I am in Baghdad, and my neighbors are university professors, and they didn't hear about So what about the people in the provinces?"

The conference, required by law to take place in July, is now scheduled to start in Baghdad on Aug. 15. Its main purpose is to choose a 100-member council that will serve as the de facto parliament until January elections. Modeled after Afghanistan's loya jirga, the three-day conference was meant to draw in indigenous Iraqi leaders not represented in Iraq's new government.

more at link:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0730/p06s01-woiq.html

[AnnitaR]

1. Umm... seems like a bad time to air drop Powell in

doesn't it?

But hey they'll try any trick to try and divert attention from Kerry's big night!

[Old and In the Way]

2. George is way past Iraq now.

They are liberated, no longer a news event. Time to get focused on being re-selected. I suspect both Afghanistan and Iraq will devolve into anarchy because this administration was clueless about the consequences of their actions.