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Chalabi Urges Fast Interim Setup in Iraq
KUWAIT CITY - An Iraqi opposition leader urged the U.S.-led interim administration Wednesday to leave the Kuwait City hotel where it has been working on plans to run the country and move quickly into Iraq.

With an eye on taking power after a transition, several prominent Iraqis are planning a meeting of political factions in the southern city of Nasiriyah to lay the foundations of what could become a provisional government. The head of the interim administration, retired U.S. Gen. Jay Garner, will attend the meeting, due to be held sometime after Saturday, according to aides to Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington.

The rapid collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime was leaving Iraq with a power vacuum filled only the U.S. and British military.

Garner's interim administration plans to coordinate humanitarian assistance, rebuild infrastructure shattered by years of war and economic sanctions and start the process toward a democratic government. But concrete details of how he will assert his authority — and the future role of the Iraqi opposition — remain elusive.

Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the exile Iraqi National Congress, was mobbed Wednesday in Nasiriyah by thousands of people cheering the collapse of Saddam's government.
This guy has 'klepto' written all over him.
Chalabi told CNN in a phone interview that Garner's group — which has been gradually moving out of the Hilton Resort in Kuwait City into southern Iraq — needed to get inside quickly and help restore law and order and bring humanitarian aid to suffering people.

"Where is General Garner now?" Chalabi said. "The U.S. troops have defeated Saddam militarily. That was never a problem. The issue is the Baath party and the remnants of the Baath party who will continue to pose a threat. And those people will continue to have some influence as long as there is no electricity, no security and no water."

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Garner's whereabouts were unimportant and that his team was working on rebuilding the country, helping to bring in aid and restore electricity in the southern province of Basra. "The United States is not going to stay in that country and occupy it," Rumsfeld said.

Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress said the Nasiriyah meeting was intended to build a wider following for a roadmap drawn up last month in northern Iraq by several groups. The challenge for the exiles is to build power bases as soon as possible before local leaders already inside the country emerge. Already, British forces in Basra have selected a local tribal leader to form a committee representing local interests.
There goes one post.
It was not clear what members of the fractured opposition would be there. Salah al-Sheikly, a London-based member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi National Accord, said representatives of his group would attend. Other guests would include "tribal leaders, religious clerics and Iraqi dignitaries who were not involved" in Saddam's regime, he said.
How about a few who survived prison?
Chalabi's group said earlier the Nasiriyah meeting would be held Saturday, but Cheney's aides said it would happen sometime after that, with the exact date to be determined according to events.

Chalabi has been at the U.S.-controlled Tallil Air Base near Nasiriyah for the past three days. He and other exile leaders supported by the Pentagon have gradually been brought into the country and will clearly form part of what is expected to become a U.S.-picked consultative body of Iraqis that will advise the Americans on running the country.

The roadmap that was decided last month calls for a provisional government that would work with the coalition military forces, negotiate their eventual withdrawal and eventually be replaced by a permanent government chosen by democratic elections.

Officials in Chalabi's group, however, suggested Wednesday that the idea of an immediate provisional government had been overtaken by the U.S.-proposed consultative group.

Voices within the exiled Iraqi opposition have called in recent weeks for having Iraq administered by the United Nations, a stance pushed by France, Germany and Russia, which opposed the war.
Wonder who put them up to that?
Faisal Chalabi, Chalabi's nephew and spokesman in Kuwait City, said the U.N. role should be limited to providing aid and technical expertise. Several Security Council countries had "vested interests" in the fallen Baath regime, he said.
Faisal's on his game at least.
Ahmed al-Haboubi, a former minister in the government toppled by the Baath Party's 1968 coup, said celebrations like those seen in Baghdad on Wednesday should wait until a democratic government is elected to replace Saddam's regime.

Al-Haboubi, who was elected Tuesday to the leadership of a new Iraqi opposition group, and many liberal-minded Iraqi exiles say they share a common worry: that their long struggle against Saddam will be in vain if his regime is replaced by opportunists who would only do America's bidding.
Everyone wants a piece of the pie.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=12805