Iraqi Council Completes Cabinet

Washington Post ^ | 9/1/03 | Daniel Williams

[saquin]

BAGHDAD, Aug. 31 -- Iraqi politicians have completed the selection of a 25-member cabinet to increase their influence in the administration of their country and, if they have their way, wrest some authority from the ruling U.S.-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority, members of the consultative Governing Council said today.

Among the key cabinet positions filled was the post of interior minister, who will lead the transition to Iraqi control of the country's internal security forces. The car bombing on Friday in Najaf, which killed a Shiite Muslim religious leader, brought calls by many Iraqis for the immediate creation of an interim militia to help root out forces loyal to deposed president Saddam Hussein and fight saboteurs and terrorists.

[saquin]

"It is time for Iraqis to do the fighting for the country's own survival," said Adel Murad, an official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which represents part of Iraq's minority Kurdish population. "Young Americans should not be dying for this. It is time for us to take over."

Something we can all agree on.

[nuconvert]

Bttt

[Tunehead54]

BTTT!

---

[happygrl]

Agreed.

AND:

The Governing Council has been pressing the occupation authority to allow Iraqi militias to deploy fighters on city streets and in the countryside. Kurdish parties already have tens of thousands of men under arms, holdovers from their long battles with Hussein's government. Shiite Muslim groups also possess trained recruits, though none has openly formed an armed militia.

Iraqis, beset by rampant crime, guerrilla conflict, sabotage and three car bombings within the past month, are growing impatient. "There is interim chaos, so an interim force is needed," said Mishan Jubouri, a leader of a large clan based around the northern city of Mosul.