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| Iraq-Jordan |
| UN Official: Early Iraq Elections Unlikely |
| 2004-02-13 |
| EFL. HT Drudge. Focus seems to be on scuttling the US caucus plan. Goodbye any new constitution. Hello Sharia. A U.N. official said Friday it was unlikely elections could be held before a U.S.-set June 30 deadline for handing power to the Iraqis, and several Iraqi leaders said there was growing support for scrapping the U.S. blueprint for establishing a new government. U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, meanwhile, warned Iraqis to be aware of the risks of civil war as they try to find an acceptable formula for sovereignty.[....] Some members of the U.S.-picked Governing Council were pushing an alternative to the U.S. plan that would call for transferring sovereignty to an expanded council on June 30. The council would then arrange elections before the end of the year. Doubts about the complex U.S. plan were expressed Friday to Brahimi during a meeting with the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council. Brahimi arrived Sunday to try to break an impasse between the Shiite Muslim clergy and the U.S.-led occupation authority on how to establish a new Iraqi government. Under the American formula, 18 regional caucuses would pick a new legislature, which in turn would choose a provisional government to take power June 30 and serve until elections in 2005. The U.S. plan, announced Nov. 15, lost ground when Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani demanded legislative elections before June 30. Al-Sistani called the caucuses method "illegitimate." [....] Opposition to the U.S. plan among the Governing Council is significant because it was a signatory of the Nov. 15 agreement, along with the U.S.-led occupation authority. Brahimi told reporters Friday that he would return to New York and submit his recommendations to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a week to 10 days. Asked if the caucus plan was dead, Brahimi said that decision was not his to make but "I think the people who put it together realize that, at the very least, it needs to be improved considerably." This should be interesting- - the UN making a decision to help. More at link |
| Posted by:GK |
| #3 This should be interesting- - the UN making a decision to help. The last thing Iraq needs is UN "help". |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-2-13 1:06:30 PM |
| #2 No no, folks, this is good. We wanted to persuade Sistani that early elections were a bad idea but he didn't buy it. So now the UN says the same thing. Sistani's going to listen to them (since they're [cough] neutral) and back down gracefully. The caucus plan and new constitution go forward with elections in a couple of years. Caucus is easier for us to, ahem, influence, and that guarantees no Sharia in Iraq. Nope, Kofi got the message from us and is actually helping for a change. In return the UN gets to look relevant. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-2-13 12:54:13 PM |
| #1 bet this comes from kofi's orders,that barstad would do anything to slow progress and fuck it all up. |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-2-13 12:30:45 PM |