IRAQ: U.S.- BACKED IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL INTENDED TO FILL A POLITICAL VACUUM CREATED BY FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN SET TO MEET IN BAGHDAD

Record ID: 648591

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S.- BACKED IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL INTENDED TO FILL A POLITICAL VACUUM CREATED BY FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN SET TO MEET IN BAGHDAD
  • Date: 12th July 2003
  • Summary: (U6) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON BAGHDAD STREETS (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) ADEL ABED AL-MAHDI, SPOKESMAN FOR SUPREME COUNCIL FOR THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAQ, SAYING: "We believe that this is a very important step forward and the decisions taken were all Iraqi decisions. The Iraqis have chosen the members of the council consisting of the different groups in Iraq in co-ordination with the coalition forces and the decisions were all Iraqi. We want to develop this council in order to end the difficult circumstances. We need an Iraqi administration to take responsibility for the economic and security matters of the country and also to take responsibility for the upcoming elections, and in order to end the occupation and allow Iraq to become independent." 1.26 3. SV: MONUMENT ON BAGHDAD STREETS 1.33 4. LV OF STREET WITH TRAFFIC 1.40 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA655T2250VT5K7W06CHNL2M6X4
  • Story Text: A U.S.-backed Iraqi governing council, intended to fill a
    political vacuum created by the fall of Saddam Hussein, will
    meet for the first time on Sunday, a spokesman for a major
    political party has said.


    The first Iraqi body to have some executive powers
    since U.S. and British forces occupied Iraq will meet on
    Sunday (July 13). The governing council has been long awaited
    by Iraqis who cite the lack of a national government as one of
    their main frustrations.

    Members of the media were not allowed into the meeting
    where the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, held talks
    with top Iraqi politicians, including exiles who returned to
    Baghdad after the fall of Saddam on April 9, to finalise plans
    to form the council.

    But Adel Abed al-Mahdi, the spokesman for the Supreme
    Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, spoke to Reuters
    after the meeting.

    "We believe that this is a very important step forward and
    the decisions taken were all Iraqi decisions. The Iraqi's have
    chosen the members of the council consisting of the different
    groups in Iraq in co-ordination with the coalition forces and
    the decisions were all Iraqi. We want to develop this council
    in order to end the difficult circumstances. We need an Iraqi
    administration to take responsibility for the economic and
    security matters of the country and also to take
    responsibility for the upcoming elections, and in order to end
    the occupation and allow Iraq to become independent," said
    al-Mahdi.

    Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress
    (INC), said the council would hold its founding meeting at 11
    a.m. (0700 GMT) at a building previously occupied by Saddam's
    Industrial Militarisation Commission.

    The council will have 25 members roughly reflecting Iraq's
    religious and ethnic makeup -- 13 Shi'ites, five Sunnis, five
    Kurds, one Christian and one Turkmen, reflecting the sectarian
    and ethnic make-up of Iraq's 26 million population.

    Shi'ites, who form 65 percent of the population, were
    persecuted during the 35-year rule of Saddam's Ba'ath Party.

    The council will have some executive powers like
    nominating ministers, reviewing laws, signing contracts and
    approving the national budget as well as a role in appointing
    members of a committee to draft a new constitution ahead of
    free elections.

    Bremer has the power to overrule the council's decisions,
    but Qanbar said that the U.S. administrator had told political
    leaders that he did not have the desire to do so.


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