Word: bremer
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...plan to select such a government at regional caucuses controlled by its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council. Instead, the country's most powerful spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has demanded democratic elections, and rather than put itself at odds with a pro-democracy movement among Iraq's majority community, Bremer has sought to accommodate the ayatollah's objections. Sistani's demand, backed by tens of thousands of demonstrators in Iraq's major cities in recent weeks, has prompted the U.S. to seek UN intervention. Sistani has indicated that he'll take no for an answer on elections only...
...says elections can't be held by summer, the Shiites will insist on something substantially more democratic than Bremer's caucus plan. Sistani wants elections to ensure that the Shiites finally achieve political influence commensurate with their majority status. Ever since Iraq was first created in the mapping rooms of the British Foreign Office, its Shiites - and Kurds - have been ruled by the Sunni Arab minority. Coalition officials believe one of the factors fueling indigenous support for the insurgency is the Sunni minority's fear of losing its traditional privileges. Accommodating Sunni concerns, as well as the crypto-secessionist demands...
...officials say that would be too difficult to pull off before the June 30 deadline for the transfer of power. Instead, the U.S. wants the new government to be chosen by local caucuses. Ahead of meetings in New York City this week with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian chief in Iraq, said, "We have doubts, as does the Secretary-General, that elections can in fact be called in the time frame of sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June...
...make the transition look fluid and orderly. Crucial, they say, will be "setting expectations" for everything from stabilizing the electric grid to securing the annual hajj pilgrimage and opening the nation's airports. It will all build to a climactic moment--the departure of U.S. civilian chief Paul Bremer. Administration officials want to avoid at all costs a chaotic scene that would remind Americans of that notorious helicopter getaway from the embassy compound in Saigon in 1975. Says a top official of Bremer's departure: "You're going to see that handled very, very carefully...
...Administration was racked by its never ending ideological battle over unilateral action. The State Department was firmly in favor of an international deal. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was said to be ready to shed the burdens of local governance in Iraq. The Coalition Provisional Authority was divided--but L. Paul Bremer told Senator Hillary Clinton that he favored U.N. involvement in the selection of a new government. The Vice President remains skeptical about any U.N. role. The President, however, may be turning away from the hard-liners and toward a more pragmatic approach. "Jim Baker wouldn't be involved," a prominent...