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    New Iraqi PM Not Ashamed of CIA LinksWed Jun 9, 2004 01:09 PM ET By Lin Noueihed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - New Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Wednesday he was not ashamed of having worked with the CIA and other intelligence agencies as head of an exiled group trying to destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime. "I was the head of a political organization in touch with at least 15 intelligence services across the world and in the region," Allawi said after a cabinet meeting. "We don't feel ashamed of having been in touch to liberate Iraq from the...

'Chaos in Iraq could produce another Hitler' By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 14/12/2004) The chronic instability and widespread feeling of humiliation in Iraq could give birth to an "Iraqi Hitler", the country's president, Ghazi al-Yawar, said yesterday as a suicide car bomber killed at least seven people in Baghdad. The explosion at the entrance of the "Green Zone", the capital's fortified government and diplomatic compound, left 19 people wounded. All the victims were reported to be Iraqis. An US soldier surveys the blast zone in Baghdad The blast came on the anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein....

Ghazi Yawar, the interim Iraqi President, has given warning that instability could spawn an "Iraqi Hitler" if his country's citizens continue to feel humiliated and despondent like the Germans after their defeat in the First World War. In a series of media interviews on a trip to London, Iraq's political figurehead also criticised Washington for its disastrous decision to dismantle Iraq's security forces after its invasion last year - which paved the way for a breakdown of law and order. "We could have screened people out instead of screening them in and this could have saved us a lot of...

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and pounded Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election. Kidnappers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades seized an American, a Nepali and two Arabs from their Saudi company's office in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. A spokesman said the attackers killed a guard when they stormed the company villa in the affluent Mansour district. The U.S. military said it had begun to increase its troop strength in Iraq (news -...

Iraq's interim government has been sworn in after the surprise handover of power from the US-led coalition. The transfer, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, took place in a closed ceremony in Baghdad this morning. The interim government said the transfer had been brought forward to avert attacks by militants opposed to the US-led occupation and the new Iraqi leadership. Hours before the swearing in outgoing US administrator Paul Bremer handed a letter of empowerment to Iraqi officials including the President Ghazi Yawar, and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Although the new government will have "full sovereignty", according to a U.N....

Afghan, Iraq Presidents Call for Coalition to Remain By Jim Garamone American Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, June 13, 2004 – The presidents of Afghanistan and Iraq both called for coalition forces to stay in their countries during separate interviews on NBC's "Meet the Press" today. Afghan President Hamid Kharzai and Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar both said the short-term stability of their countries depends on the U.S.-led coalition staying in their respective lands. Yawar said Iraqi security forces cannot handle the security problems today. The threats from Saddam Hussein regime remnants and outside terrorists is potent, he said, and Iraqi security...

Iraq President Won't Destroy Abu Ghraib Prison June 13, 2004 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Interim Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar on Sunday said he had no plans to destroy the Abu Ghraib prison despite an offer by President Bush to tear down the jail where U.S. troops abused inmates. Asked if he would tear down the prison, Yawar told ABC's "This Week," "No. Why? It's a prison that we spent more than $100 million building." He acknowledged the prison was a symbol of the repressive regime of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but said it would be unwise and reactionary to...

Ghazi Al-Yawar Sheikh Ghazi Ajeel Al-Yawar was announced yesterday as the first Iraqi President in post Saddam Iraq. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about Yawar. I found it a bit troubling that the head of the state is a tribal figure. Tribalism has been without doubt the most significant problem in Iraq (and the ME) for centuries, one that has been plaguing our urban societies and infecting them with a multitude of social diseases that have proven almost impossible to cure, problems that on the surface may seem to be dissipating from time to time, but...

George Washington and Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar have much in common, although the only flowing white robes Washington ever wore were Roman togas in epic portraits. Iraq has now reached a point similar, in many ways, to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when a group of unelected men met to change the course of their country’s history. These similarities bring hope for Iraq’s future. Consider the situation the United States was in prior to 1787. Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government was weak, with local state governments and militias holding much power. The economy was stagnant, much to the...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders got their way over U.S. opposition on Tuesday to have tribal chief Ghazi Yawar appointed president after Washington's choice stepped aside in a face-saving arrangement between occupiers and occupied. As they met, a massive explosion nearby at the offices of a Kurdish political party just outside the U.S. Green Zone headquarters killed 25 people, police at the scene said. It was not clear what caused the blast. Widespread violence poses the greatest challenge to the interim government's efforts to organize Iraq's first free elections in the new year. After two days of bitter confrontation over...

This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com Title : Sunni Muslims in struggle for Iraq presidency, truce shaky By : Date : 31 May 2004 0121 hrs (SST) URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/87646/1/.html BAGHDAD : Two senior Sunni Muslims were competing to become Saddam Hussein's successor as president of Iraq, as an interim government took shape and fresh violence broke out in the holy city of Najaf. Iraqi politicians and US officials locked horns over whether Ghazi al-Yawar, the chair of the Governing Council, or elder statesman Adnan Pachachi would take on the largely ceremonial post of president. "They want to impose...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders are wrangling over who should succeed Saddam Hussein as president after they agreed on other key posts in the new government that will take power next month from the U.S. occupation authority. With the top post of prime minister filled and consensus on key ministries, Iraqi officials spoke on Sunday of sharp disagreement on the largely ceremonial choice of head of state between Adnan Pachachi, veteran scion of a pre-Saddam political dynasty, and Ghazi Yawar, a youthful engineer long based in Saudi Arabia. U.S. and U.N. officials may now be ready to propose a third...