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| Iraq-Jordan | ||
| Bremer Forms Boards to Aid Iraq Transfer | ||
| 2004-03-25 | ||
| BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - With fewer than 100 days until power is handed over to Iraqis, the top U.S. administrator said Wednesday he was establishing several Western-style institutions that are expected to put a moderating influence on the fledgling government that takes over June 30. Top administrator L. Paul Bremer said significant steps had been taken to rebuild the country since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein a year ago. "One hundred days from now, Iraqis will be sovereign in their own land and responsible for their own future," Bremer said in an outdoor speech in the Green Zone, the heavily protected area housing coalition headquarters in central Baghdad. Bremer said he would set up an Iraqi Defense Ministry and a national security Cabinet later this week. He said he was in the midst of appointing inspectors general to each of Iraq's 25 government ministries, while also creating a government auditing board and an anti-corruption commission. Bremer said work was under way to establish a public broadcasting service and an independent panel to regulate it.
U.S. and Iraqi officials expect Iraqi guerrillas and foreign fighters to step up attacks in coming weeks, to try to disrupt the handover process and demonstrate that a fledgling government cannot control Iraq. "The security issue cannot be overemphasized," said Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, a Shiite Muslim member of the Governing Council. He said newly trained Iraqi police would do their best to stabilize Iraq alongside 110,000 U.S. troops. Enormous tasks remain. The biggest involves anointing an Iraqi transitional government that will take power June 30 - but the Governing Council and U.S.-led occupation figures have yet to agree upon a plan to name those who will govern. "We're moving at rocket speed," al-Rubaie said. "The counting down has started." Al-Rubaie said a U.N. team would arrive Thursday to look at technical issues surrounding the transfer of sovereignty. A second U.N. delegation, headed by top negotiator Lakhdar Brahimi, is expected in about 10 days, al-Rubaie said.
Bremer cited the signing of an interim constitution as a key step toward the June 30 handover of power from the coalition to Iraqis. He acknowledged some Iraqi leaders were not fully satisfied, but praised members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council for making compromises on a document that he said enshrines religious freedom and other basic rights. "Iraq is now on the path to full democracy in a united state at peace with its neighbors," he said. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |