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Posted on 05/11/2003 5:54:56 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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Two key powerbrokers began making their mark on post-war Iraq as Paul Bremer, the top US civilian official, began touring the Gulf a day after a top Shiite Muslim leader returned home in triumph from 23 years of exile.
Bremer, a 61-year-old career diplomat and counterterrorism expert arrived in Doha to outline his mission to supervise the rebuilding and democratization of war-torn Iraq.
Tapped Tuesday by US President George W. Bush for the post, Bremer was accompanied by General Richard Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was to met retired general Jay Garner, the US civil administrator in Iraq.
US Army General Tommy Franks will retain control over military forces in Iraq, but Bremer will outrank Garner and Bush special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, US embassy officials in Qatar said Saturday.
Garner will focus on restoring basic services and reviving crucial Iraqi ministries, while Khalilzad will pursue efforts to build an Iraqi Interim Authority in cooperation with free Iraqi leaders, they said.
Bremer will report directly to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The US official will be dealing with Iraqi leaders of all stripes, including Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, the 66-year-old head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), who made a high-profile return on Saturday.
Iraq's top Shiite leader offered a vision of democracy faithful to Islam but tolerant of the country's diversity, after crossing the border from Iran and entering the main southern city of Basra.
Hakim urged tens of thousands of supporters who turned out to welcome him to "stand together against imperialism" -- a swipe at US and British military forces in Iraq.
He downplayed comparisons with Iran's hardline revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and tried to allay fears he may seek to install a Tehran-style theocracy.
"We want a democratic government, representing the Iraqi nation, the Iraqi people, the Muslims, Christians and all the minorities," Hakim said, surrounded by plainclothed bodyguards from SAIRI's armed Badr Brigade.
Shiite Muslims comprise around 60 percent of the Iraqi population, which also includes Kurds, Sunni Muslim Arabs, Christians and others.
Hakim addressed coalition leaders when he said: "We are Muslims. We want the Iraqi people to govern themselves."
Despite its rhetoric, the SAIRI has taken a pragmatic decision to participate in US-sponsored efforts to forge a new administration, sitting on the seven-member council of former opposition groups who are spearheading the process.
A SAIRI official said Hakim would not seek a direct political role for himself.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, travelling in Israel, warned that Iraq's oil storage facilities could soon be full unless sales resume.
"We are running into a time crunch with respect to the oil" in Iraq, Powell told reporters. "The fields are not in as bad shape as we thought, and production is ramping up quickly."
In northeastern Iraq, the armed Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedeen, a US-listed terrorist organisation, was to begin submitting heavy weapons and thousands of fighters to US control Sunday, US officers said.
The disarmament deal was struck Saturday between Mujahedeen leaders and US 4th Infantry Division commander General Ray Odierno at a guerrilla base in northeast Iraq.
Odierno said the group's cooperation with US forces and its commitment to democracy in Iran meant its status as a terrorist organisation should be reviewed.
Under the agreement, the Mujahedeen's 4,000 to 5,000 fighters -- many of whom were educated in the United States and Europe -- are to regroup at one of their base camps.
The Mujahedeen were supported by Saddam's regime as a buffer against Iranian influence in Iraq, and could provide US forces with valuable information about the former Iraqi leadership and pro-Iran militia groups in the region.
US officers are concerned that if the group is disbanded, rival guerrillas from SAIRI's Badr Brigade could try to fill the vacuum.
On the diplomatic front, the United States and Britain garnered support for their draft resolution to lift sanctions from Germany and Bulgaria, two non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily told BBC radio: "Sanctions must be lifted as early as possible," and added that his country wanted pragmatic solutions.
Before the conflict, Germany had sided with France and Russia within the Security Council in opposing the US-led war.
The proposed UN draft would immediately lift sanctions against Iraq -- in force since Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait -- and put its oil revenues into a new Iraqi Assistance Fund for 12 months.
Although the draft says the United Nations should play a "vital role" in providing humanitarian relief, supporting reconstruction and helping form an interim authority in Iraq, US officials have said Washington wants the last word on how Iraq is governed.
In Baghdad, US officials handed out tens of thousands more dollars on Saturday to Iraq's cash-strapped civil servants, who have not been paid in almost two months.
Staffers at government ministries queued for hours to get their one-time, 20-dollar (17-euro) emergency pay-out, which US officials hope will ease the cash crunch and boost Iraq's post-war economy.
BTTT!
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