WP: U.S., U.N. Seek New Leaders For Iraq

[kskiska]

Chalabi and Others Coalition Relied on May Be Left Out

By Robin Wright and Walter Pincus
Saturday, April 24, 2004; Page A01

The United States and the top U.N. envoy to Iraq have decided to exclude the majority of the Iraqi politicians the U.S.-led coalition has relied on over the past year when they select an Iraqi government to assume power on June 30, U.S. and U.N. officials said yesterday.

The latest shift in policy comes as the U.S.-led coalition has to resolve some contentious and long-standing issues before the transfer takes place. Earlier this week, the coalition moved to allow former Baath Party members and military officers to return to government jobs.

At the top of the list of those likely to be jettisoned is Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite politician who for years was a favorite of the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney, and who was once expected to assume a powerful role after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials acknowledged.

Chalabi has increasingly alienated the Bush administration, including President Bush, in recent months, U.S. officials said. He generated anger in Washington yesterday when he said a new U.S. plan to allow some former officials of Hussein's ruling Baath Party and military to return to office was the equivalent of returning Nazis to power in Germany after World War II.

Chalabi has headed the committee in charge of removing former Baathist officials. In a nationwide address yesterday designed to promote national reconciliation, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said complaints that the program is "unevenly and unjustly" administered are "legitimate" and that the overall program has been "poorly implemented."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37921-2004Apr23.html

[David Dunham]

1. I know. Bush can bring back Saddam to restore stability.

[truthisfreedom]

10. stop making sense.

[mike_c]

2. back to exile for the quisling Chalabi...

...until he can convince his handlers that the WMD were all moved to Syria in 1994. Yeah, that's the ticket....

[NNN0LHI]

3. Chalabi has reservations in a Jordanian prison

That is where he is going soon.

Don

[mike_c]

4. good riddance, but I'll believe it when I see it....

On the one hand, Chalabi being delivered to Jordan would be justice, but it's ironic that it would also represent yet another Bushco betrayal. What makes anyone, even the most venal, think they can trust the neocons farther than at point-blank? Is it just plain stupidity, or greed gone wild?

[bemildred]

9. Hey, he could write a book.

He could call it "The Price of Loyalty".

[teryang]

5. How does a transfer of power take place

...when we pick the government? This is the stupidist thing I ever heard.


Did anyone see Biden grimacing, raising his eyebrows, and rolling his eyes when he discussed this with the 2nd string flunkies from the regime two nights ago?

[bemildred]

6. Yeah, I have an idea, let's hold elections!

We could pick leaders that way!

What a bunch of disingenuous crap.

[teryang]

7. I guess Biden's point is there is no plan

and no framework for anything other than the US ambassador getting in his car and driving over to the various ministries to tell his appointees what to do. So what's changed? Does this have legitimacy in the eyes of Iraqis? He asks the flunkies from state, defense, and USAID, do you really think so?

[bemildred]

8. Well, they're grabbing at straws.

It's just "unthinkable" to just admit defeat and get the
hell out, so they don't think it. Meanwhile we get these
silly "plans" and things continue to go to hell. Believe
it or not, this sort of "management" works well in defense
procurement, but it's not going to work in Iraq. Right now
they seem to have adopted the hope of stringing things out
until after the election. I don't think they have that long,
it's going to go rotten right in the middle of the campaign,
if not before.

[teryang]

11. They think that's good enough

<Right now, they seem to have adopted the hope of stringing things out until after the election.>

Unitl then, they want to give the false impression that they are acting with restraint. After November it going to be terrible.