Posted on 06/02/2004 7:46:53 AM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
Most Iraqis wary of nation's new government
Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Although the new Iraqi interim government that took office Tuesday will not have full authority for another month, it already has the headaches of a formidable task -- gaining enough credibility among Iraqis to be able to exercise at least a minimum degree of power.
After days of bruising, behind-the-scenes negotiations involving U.S. officials and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, members of the Iraqi Governing Council -- the 25-member body viewed by a wide spectrum of Iraqis as American puppets -- emerged victorious in re-establishing themselves in the new government.
This very success will make it difficult for the leaders who took over on Tuesday, many analysts and Iraqis say. They point to the choice for prime minister of Iyad Allawi, a controversial businessman and recipient of CIA largesse, as particularly likely to spur public dissent.
Allawi's tenure on the Governing Council has prompted widespread rumors of corruption and influence peddling, including repeated accusations that he charges "commissions" to deliver government contracts to Iraqi companies.
"This is unlikely to be seen by most Iraqis as a legitimate government because it wasn't elected by anybody, and I don't think anybody will view it as independent," said Juan Cole, a professor of Middle East history at the University of Michigan and the author of Informed Comment, an authoritative Web log about Iraq. "Having an old-time CIA asset be the prime minister seems a recipe for derision."
Even analysts who have supported the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war say Allawi and his Cabinet will have to work hard to dispel Iraqis' suspicions.
"The first thing we have to accept is that any Iraqi government and its political leaders are going to have to establish credibility with their people by being opposed to us," said Eliot Cohen, director of the Strategic Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
"The fact that we had some pet candidates and (the Iraqi Governing Council) didn't want them, that's a positive development," said Cohen, referring to widespread reports that American diplomats had unsuccessfully tried to install a loyal ally on the Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, to the largely ceremonial post of president. Instead, the post went to the council's choice, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer.
Allawi and al-Yawer quickly took up the cue, pushing for a bigger slice of sovereign authority than the United States has wanted to surrender. In a speech Tuesday, Allawi thanked the Bush administration for liberating Iraq from the "tyrant" Saddam Hussein, but pointedly said his government would be seeking full sovereignty from the United Nations.
Most Iraqis will be looking first at how Allawi negotiates a status of forces agreement with U.S. military commanders. That task is not likely to be easy because the 138,000 American troops in Iraq have taken over choice real estate -- including the four-square mile Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad. The U.S. troops' frequent road closures and checkpoints have angered countless Iraqis.
In addition, much depends on whether Allawi tries to rein in U.S. counterinsurgency operations and whether he can coax the rebels to lay down their arms. "It's clear that we cannot impose order on that country militarily, and what's needed is a different political situation," said Marina Ottaway, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "But there's nothing in this government for the people who are causing trouble, for the Sunni insurgency, for Muqtada al-Sadr, nothing in which they might take part."
Recent public opinion polling has showed a dramatic increase in grassroots hostility toward the American occupation.
Between October and April, the percentage of Iraqis viewing the United States as an occupier rather than a liberator more than doubled, from 43 percent to 88 percent, according to the Center for Research, an Iraqi polling firm that works for several U.S. contractors. Similarly, the percentage of Iraqis wanting U.S. and coalition troops to leave the country immediately rose from 17 percent in October to 57 percent in April.
Reports from Iraq in recent days suggest that many ordinary Iraqis have become disillusioned with politics altogether and care more about the lack of progress in reconstruction -- the frequent electricity blackouts, mile-long gas station lines, high unemployment, rampant crime and frequent guerrilla attacks that have confounded hopes that the American occupation would bring prosperity.
"Concerning the new government, I can assure you that very few people are looking at what is going on (in politics) because the situation is becoming worse than it was before," wrote one Baghdad resident, a Shiite who asked not to be identified for security reasons, in an e-mail to The Chronicle. "The electricity-cutting hours are more these days, there is a shortage in fuel, the long lines of cars on gas stations are getting more and more everyday, the bombings are more these days, particularly today, there has been many explosions today. People think that since the selected president is from the Governing Council, so nothing has been changed.
"All what people are concerned about is the living and security, no more, no less!"
E-mail Robert Collier at rcollier@sfchronicle.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Because it may be the formula for success!
skepticism of government is a good thing.
I was taught to "consider the source" in evaluating such things. S.F. should stick to things they know a lot about, like sexual deviancy. LOL!
So is acurate reporting.
He states it as a fact without anything to back it up except some analyst's opinion and a month old poll that has nothing directly to do with yesterday's government formation.
Anyone with the slightest scintilla of common sense is wary of the government he lives under. Duh.
Don't forget the email from an "unnamed source".
"Concerning the new government, I can assure you that very few people are looking at what is going on (in politics) because the situation is becoming worse than it was before," wrote one Baghdad resident, a Shiite who asked not to be identified for security reasons, in an e-mail to The Chronicle.
Did you notice that there is no Iraq-located dateline on this article? He's basing his analysis on anonymous e-mails received at the Chronicle.
How many times does this guy say "most Iraqis"? How does he know about most Iraqis? Did he do a poll? How does he know about what Shias and Kurds and Sunnis think? This guy's agenda is showing.
Anyone with the slightest scintilla of common sense is wary of they read in the press. Duh
Oh, I missed that. That proves it. He read it in an email.
But of course Saddam was credible...
That's why the BBC and other "news" organizations refer to him as "President."
After all, he was elected...
Yes, the poll cited in the article had nothing to do with Iraqi views of the provisional government and therefore did not support the headline.
Considering the Iraqi experience with "government" ,I have no doubt that they are wary!....
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