Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/19/2003 7:55:05 AM PDT by MadIvan
BAGHDAD: Pro-American Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi has said the United States should oversee post-war Iraq and the United Nations lacked the capability and credibility to take a leadership role there.
At a news conference in the Iraqi Hunting Club – his first since arriving in Baghdad on Wednesday – Chalabi also said he did not want a post in an interim Iraqi government and would devote himself to developing civil society.
But the man seen by many analysts as the US choice to lead Iraq left open the question of whether he would stand as a candidate if the country held democratic elections.
"I do not think that the United Nations is either capable or has the credibility in Iraq to play a major role," he told an audience of mainly Western reporters on his first visit to Baghdad since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958.
"And the moral imperative is on the side of the United States, and the Iraqi people will accept a leadership role for the United States in this process," he said. "The United States does not want to run Iraq."
RETURN FROM EXILE
Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), was the first major exile politician to reach Baghdad since the collapse of the government of Saddam Hussein.
The US military flew him – along with 700 of the Free Iraqi Forces who back the INC – to the southern city of Nassariya 11 days ago, giving him a head start over other exile politicians.
On Friday, US troops and Free Iraqi Forces guarded the building where Chalabi's news conference was held in the shadow of a construction site for a massive new mosque.
But Chalabi insisted he was just an ordinary person exercising his right to freedom of expression.
"I am not a candidate for any position in the interim government," he said. "I am a citizen of Iraq and I am home and I am expressing my views as a citizen of Iraq."
His longer term plans are less clear.
Asked if Chalabi would stand in an Iraqi election, his aide Zaab Sethna said "when that bridge comes he will cross it".
An INC official, Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, said on Thursday he had been chosen to head an interim council to run Baghdad. Zubaidi did not say who elected him or when, and most Iraqis interviewed by Reuters said they knew nothing about the polling.
Zubaidi said in an interview with al-Jazeera television on Friday his council was working independently of US forces.
"The truth is that I, we, do not have any relationship with American forces. They were surprised that the people elected the executive council and asked for co-operation and an understanding over running the affairs in the city.
"There was a meeting this evening in which we studied a mechanism to maintain security and how to proceed with work. We are working independently and without any supervision or guidance or instructions from American forces," he said.
Regards, Ivan
He said the United Nations should have only a limited role in a post-war Iraq and he reserved his harshest criticisms for France and Germany following their opposition to the US-led invasion.
"The UN has been less than helpful and dealt with Iraq under Saddam Hussein like it was a normal state.
"It did not recognise the seriousness of the oppression in Iraq ... their performance was less than stellar."
He said that even though France and Germany had been liberated from Nazism by the United States, they behaved like "de facto allies of Saddam Hussein."
I'm liking him better all the time.
Regards, Ivan
This reminds me of that "Simpson's" episode, where Apu (ah-poo) - the 7 Eleven owner, says to Homer, "You can come out from behind the chips, now...your opportunity to prove your manhood...has long since past."
This guy is confusing a lot of folks. It's just going to have to play out, I don't think the media has a clue. My hometown paper today's headline is about Iraqis wanting us out and creating an Islamic state instead. Now granted I did see that feeling on banners yesterday in Baghdad, but that in no way indicates what the Iraqi people want. Just some riled up zealots after Friday prayers. I've even heard media reports lately somehow claiming maybe Iraq was better off before, at least they had electricity and museums and libraries. What idiocy.
IMHO, Chalabi is just too smoky a character. he is tied to a scandal involving a Jordanian bank, and hasn't lived in Iraq for 40 years. He was elected head of the Iraqi National Congress, a coalition of exiles groups founded outside Iraq, but they can have no claim of legitimacey because the Iraqi residents had no voice in that process. The exile groups have family and neighborhood ties in country and are deeply suspicious of Chalabi. He is useful to the US but not necesarily endorsed by us.
I am sure he has been told flat out that the US will not "annoint" any leader and he must walk the fine line between continuing in a good relationship with Gen. Garner, making himself useful to the Iraqi people to win their support for US policies- THAT HE BELEIVES IN-and not appearing as a pawn of the US.
The one thing he really has going for him is that his statements show that he wants a democratic Iraq more than he wants power. If anything, he is there to do more complaining, than campaigning. By publicly voicing concerns on behalf of the Iraqi people, many of whom are too cowed or fearful to protest"When will the power be on?Why is the food slow in coming? he is giving Gen. Garner an opportunity to answer all Iraqis, and demonstrating how a responsive government should work.
Any "elections" held by the INC do not reflect the people of Iraq. It isn't covered because there really is no "news" here. Just another minion stating as fact what he hopes to occur, and probably jeopardizing the chances of it happenng by pissing off people with his precipitious statements.
HAH!
I bet THIS will get wide spread coverage! Not.
I have been trying to think of what country has Arab people experienced in democracy who could go to Iraq.
We could ship them all of ours!!
Is this where the USA/UK forces gather while hunting Iraqi's?
Yes. But the press gleefully presents the protests of the (extreme minority) rabid leftistst in San Francisco as representative of the sentiments of the entire country. Pure hogwash and just propaganda. Feh.
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