The New York Sun June 3, 2003 Iraq Opposition Dismayed at Administration's Reversal By ADAM DAIFALLAH Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON - The former Iraqi opposition to Saddam Hussein yesterday expressed disappointment with the decision of Iraq's American administrator, L.Paul Bremer, to reverse a plan to create an interim Iraqi government. The announcement by Mr.Bremer to create a consultative council of Iraqis to advise the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, comes less than two weeks after he said that a national conference of Iraqis to create an interim authority would be held in mid-July. Members of the former Iraqi opposition, particularly the Iraqi National Congress, have been steadfast in their calls for a speedy transition to an Iraqiled provisional government. Despite deep political and ideological differences, the former opposition groups set up a seven-man joint leadership council before the war that they had hoped would form the core of an interim government. However, it is now unclear what role that group will play given that the CPA is essentially handpicking the Iraqis who will advise it. A spokesman for the INC reached by satellite phone in Baghdad, Entifadh Qanbar,said that the national conference would go ahead regardless. "We have a lot of disagreements with how this [consultative council] is being established. We think that Iraqi sovereignty is important," Mr. Qanbar said. "The CPA will not achieve what the Iraqi people want,and it will not be able to solve problems." The decision by Mr. Bremer is seen as a victory for the State Department in its ongoing policy war with the Pentagon over Iraq policy. Pentagon civilians preferred a quick transition to an Iraqi-led government, while the State Department was less keen on a turning power over to the opposition. State has clashed in the past with the Iraqi opposition, particularly the INC. The vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Danielle Pletka, said the decision is "a huge mistake." "We are not meant to be the political occupiers of the country. We're not good at the political occupation of the country, and liberators are not occupiers," Ms. Pletka said. Asked yesterday if there would ever be a provisional government, Mr. Bremer said: "There will be no provisional government.There never was an intention to have a provisional government.The U.N. resolution is quite clear.It's an Iraqi interim administration." The INC's leader, Ahmad Chalabi, expressed displeasure that the U.N. resolution removing sanctions on Iraq made no mention of democracy or liberation.The INC sees the occupation of Iraq as a betrayal because President Bush had called the military incursion a war of liberation. The group is also warning that if an Iraqi provisional government isn't established soon, Baathists and other extremists will fill the ideological gap. Observers and Iraqi opposition sources also say the delaying of Iraqi self-governance could have serious security implications, including the galvanization of radical Shiite and Wahhabi Muslims.
