Posted on 05/29/2004 12:44:48 AM PDT by familyop
Some are unhappy that the U.N. was bypassed in the selection of a Shiite physician to head the interim government.
BY ROBERT MORAN AND RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iyad Allawi, a Shiite doctor who survived an assassination attempt by agents of Saddam Hussein and later tried to overthrow the former dictator, was tapped Friday to be the new prime minister of the Iraqi interim government.
Allawi, a neurologist by training, will be the top official in the transitional government when it begins functioning with the transfer of sovereignty on June 30. Elections for a permanent government are scheduled for early next year.
On Friday, the Iraqi Governing Council voted unanimously to nominate Allawi to the post of prime minister. A senior Bush administration official later confirmed that the choice is acceptable both to U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and the United States.
Even so, a number of U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed anger over the governing council's role in essentially forcing the choice of Allawi. The United Nations had been given responsibility to choose the interim government. Some U.S. officials expressed fears that the selection process was another sign of confusion in the attempts to create a democracy in Iraq.
Allawi led a group known as the Iraqi National Accord that was established in 1990 to oppose Saddam's rule. The INA, which received CIA backing, was based in neighboring Jordan and was composed primarily of military and security officers who had defected from Saddam's regime.
Allawi is regarded by some U.S. officials as a compromise candidate well suited to lead Iraq until national elections early next year. Although he is secular, he reportedly has the support of the country's top Shiite cleric, and he has served as the Governing Council's point man on security issues. He also has welcomed Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds into his political organization and promoted reconciliation with former members of Saddam's Baath Party, a group he supported more than 30 years ago.
In other Iraq developments:
A four-person team from NBC News was freed Friday after being held hostage for several days in the insurgency hotbed of Fallujah.
U.S. troops and Shiite Muslim guerrillas fought Friday morning in the southern city of Kufa, but American officials said the combat did not qualify as a significant breach of a day-old cease-fire with forces loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
There were no reports of injuries.
Contributing: Washington Post
Hmm, interesting question - who do we want choosing the interim government Iraqis or the UN?
I posted another one behind the following URL.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1144303/posts
It looks a lot more positive about the situation than the report on this page. I'm suspicious of reports that speak of much extended disagreement within the Bush Administration, as many of those have turned out to be false.
This is definitely a turn for the better. The UN would've picked a Sunni - alienating botht eh Kurds and the Shiites. Bremer is not a good judge of anything either, IMHO. (Anyone that Foggy Bottom appoints to anything turns out to be the worst person for the job.)
The only thing the UN is qualified to pick is its' nose.
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