IRAQ: IRAQI MEMBER OF GOVERNING COUNCIL SAYS U.S FAILURE TO ENSURE IRAQI SECURITY IS RESULT OF ACCUMULATION OF MISTAKES BY U.S FORCES AND WILL EFFECT TRANSFER OF POWER
Record ID:
649201
IRAQ: IRAQI MEMBER OF GOVERNING COUNCIL SAYS U.S FAILURE TO ENSURE IRAQI SECURITY IS RESULT OF ACCUMULATION OF MISTAKES BY U.S FORCES AND WILL EFFECT TRANSFER OF POWER
- Title: IRAQ: IRAQI MEMBER OF GOVERNING COUNCIL SAYS U.S FAILURE TO ENSURE IRAQI SECURITY IS RESULT OF ACCUMULATION OF MISTAKES BY U.S FORCES AND WILL EFFECT TRANSFER OF POWER
- Date: 21st May 2004
- Summary: (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF MAHMOUD OTHMAN, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER, AT HIS DESK/ CLOSE OF DOCUMENT 0.20 2. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER , MAHMOUD OTHMAN, SAYING: "The Americans proved that they can't control this country. They failed in ruling the country, they failed in security, they failed in having stability and security of this country. Iraqis are also not having powers, they are not allowed to do the job. So that's why things accumulated and when Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, the whole state collapsed. We didn't have much to replace it. So we are suffering now, not from a new thing, its an accumulation of problems over the whole year." 0.56 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 17, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. VARIOUS , FIRE-FIGHTERS TRYING TO PUT A FIRE CAUSED BY SABOTAGE ON A GAS PIPELINE / FIREFIGHTERS BEING COVERED BY FOAM 1.33 4. WIDE OF FIREFIGHTERS AND TRUCKS 1.40 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) OTHMAN SAYING "When security is not there, when stability is not there, definitely it affects daily lives, it affects the economy, it affects the services, electricity, water, which have also had many activities against them, you know, sabotage activities . So, these things will affect the whole situation. It could affect also negatively the transfer of power, whatever it is. You could wait the transfer of power but the important thing is how much the next government which will be appointed could do the job." 2.20 (EU) KERBALA, IRAQ (MAY 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 6. VARIOUS U.S. TANK IN FRONT OF MOSQUE BEING FIRED AT; AUDIO OF EXPLOSION AND SMOKE FROM MORTAR LANDING NEAR THE US TANK 2.36 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 20, 2004) (REUTERS) 7. VARIOUS, IRAQIS SHOOTING IN THE AIR FOR THE FUNERAL OF SINGER KILLED IN US RAID ON THE BORDER WITH SYRIA. IRAQIS SAY THEY WERE CELEBRATING A WEDDING, U.S. FORCES SAY THEY CAME UNDER ATTACK AFTER SEARCHING THE AREA FOR INSURGENTS AND WEAPONS 3.09 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) OTHMAN SAYING "We proposed to them, when (United Nations Envoy, Lakhdar) Brahimi was there, that they should hold a national Iraqi conference or congress, before forming a national government and I think that national Iraqi conference or congress should elect a government because this is an Iraqi affair. You make a government for Iraqis, you don't make it for Americans or for U.N. I think the Iraqis should be given a say in it. They should have been allowed to have their own national conference, they should be allowed to elect that government, elect the presidency, that would have been more appropriate. That wasn't done, they say they didn't have much time but we had about three months to do it. 3.49 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 20, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. VARIOUS GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER AND IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY LEADER AHMED CHALABI ARRIVING AT HIS OFFICE AFTER IT WAS RAIDED BY IRAQI POLICE IN A JOINT OPERATION WITH US SOLDIERS LATE AT NIGHT PROMPTING A FIERCE ATTACK ON THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION AND MILITARY IN IRAQ 4.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 5th June 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD AND KERBALA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4H9TJKH6HRR6NJCXRO75UX717
- Story Text: Countdown to U.S. handover of sovereignty begins and
already Iraqi politicians are tapping into popular
resentment of American presence in the country as a base
for next year's elections.
An opinion poll found only seven percent of Iraqis
now viewed U.S. troops as "liberators", compared to 45
percent six months ago.
The poll was conducted by the Iraq Centre for Research
and Strategic Studies in April, before pictures of soldiers
abusing prisoners drove another wedge between Americans and
Iraqis.
Iraq's politicians, increasingly angered by the U.S.
and United Nations proposals regarding the transfer of
power to a caretaker government, have begun to tap into the
public's growing resentment at the presence of U.S. forces
and deteriorating security.
Furthermore, senior U.S. politicians and military
officials have already warned of increased violence and
insurgency after the planned June 30 handover of
sovereignty.
Iraqi Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman said on
Friday (May 21) that America's failure to ensure security
in Iraq is the result of an accumulation of mistakes by
U.S. forces and its civil administration over the course of
the last year.
"The Americans proved that they can't control this
country. They failed in ruling the country, they failed in
security, they failed in having stability and security of
this country. Iraqis are also not having powers they are
not allowed to do the job. So that's why things accumulated
and when Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, the whole state
collapsed. We didn't have much to replace it. So we are
suffering now, not from a new thing, its an accumulation of
problems over the whole year" Othman said.
He said the problems were not limited to the lack of
security in a country where thousands of civilians have
died over the last year, and in the last two months in
particular, during hundreds of clashes and mortar attacks.
Thousands more have been arrested without charge and
repeated acts of sabotage on main facilities have hampered
both reconstruction and the crucial flow of investment
needed to restart the economy.
An attack on a gas pipeline on Monday (May 18) cut
supplies to hundreds of homes. There have also been attacks
on oil installations and pipelines, power stations and
electricity cables, warehouses and factories all of which
are making it extremely hard for Iraqis to live their
day-to-day lives.
With popular anger and hostility towards the U.S.
forces increasing daily, Othman says the case for full
sovereignty to an Iraqi government elected by Iraqis is
even more pressing.
"When security is not there, when stability is not
there, definitely it affects daily lives, it affects the
economy, it affects the services, electricity, water, which
have also had many activities against them, you know,
sabotage activities . So, these things will affect the
whole situation. It could affect also negatively the
transfer of power, what ever it is. You could wait the
transfer of power but the important thing is how much the
next government which will be appointed could do the job,"
Othman said.
For this reason Othman objects to the United States and
the United Nations' decision to go against Iraqi Governing
Council demands to first establish a National Congress
which would have been responsible for selecting the new
government.
U.S. President George W. Bush and senior U.S. officials
have repeatedly said they would not delay the June handover.
Washington said U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who has
helped to shape handover plans, was expected to announce
the names within two weeks of the new Iraqi interim
government's leaders.
Such anger has been further fuelled by fierce fights
between U.S.-led forces battling to put down a rebellion by
radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and
his supporters, particularly in the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala,
w
here U.S. tanks have positioned themselves
close to the mosques.
Also on Wednesday (May 19), U.S. planes attacked a
small village near the Syrian border killing up to 40
people who say they were celebrating a wedding.
The U.S. military and Iraqis gave conflicting accounts
of what happened in the air strike.
But it is this kind of attack and apparent blunders
which have led politicians like Othman to express their
dismay at the U.S. and U.N. decision to appoint a
government without the consent of, at the very least, an
Iraqi congress.
He says this move will further undermine the legitimacy
of the U.S. forces in Iraq.
"Iraqi conference or congress, before forming a
national government and I think that national Iraqi
conference or congress should elect a government because
this is an Iraqi affair. You make a government for Iraqis,
you don't make it for Americans or for UN. I think the
Iraqis should be given a say in it. They should have been
allowed to have their own national conference, they should
be allowed to elect that government, elect the presidency,
that would have been more appropriate. That wasn't done,
they say they didn't have much time but we had about 3
months to do it," Othman said.
The latest ally to turn against the United States is
Ahmed Chalabi, once the Pentagon's tip to succeed Saddam
Hussein. His falling out with Washington could not have
been made more visible than by a raid by Iraqi police and
U.S. troops on his home and offices on Thursday (May 20).
While stopping short of endorsing Sadr's armed campaign
against the occupation, Chalabi, himself one of Iraq's
Shi'ite Muslim majority, vocally criticised the U.S.
military crackdown in the holy cities for preventing a
peaceful solution.
Giving as good as they get, U.S. officials are briefing
off the record against their former ally, suggesting he is
pursuing his own business goals and even, in the case of
officials quoted by American television network, CBS,
saying he passed sensitive information to Shi'ite Iran,
which is hostile to the United States.
Chalabi is demanding that there should be no
limitations on the Iraqi sovereignty to be handed over on
June 30, notably on control of its vast oil resources and
its armed forces.
Bush was due on Monday to lay out his plan for the
handover, which is supposed to have U.N. backing and be
followed in about six months by elections. U.S. officials
say their generals will keep control of Iraq's armed forces
and there should be international supervision of its oil
revenues.
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