Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/16/03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ-POL

NUMBER=5-53681

BYLINE=GARY THOMAS

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Iraqis have taken their first tentative steps on the road to getting a new government in place. Local leaders and exiles met with U-S officials in Nasiriyah Tuesday to begin sketching out ideas. But, as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the road is expected to be a long and difficult one.

TEXT: The tent gathering in Nasiriyah gave the first insight into how the United States proposes to run Iraq in the immediate postwar period, and how a new Iraqi government will emerge.

The meeting, under the auspices of the U-S Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance brought together tribal and ethnic leaders, prominent exiles, and Muslim clerics. The group pledged to work together to establish a federal system with leaders chosen by Iraqis.

Now comes the tough part of deciding how to accomplish the goals outlined in the Nasiriyah declaration.

Iraq has many different ethnic and religious groups, but three predominate: the Kurds in the north, the minority Sunni Muslims of the center, and the Shiite Muslims of the south. All have their own ideas on what postwar Iraq should look like. Many also distrust the émigré groups and, in turn, the exile groups often feud with each other.

Underscoring the fragile state of Iraqi political affairs, the largest Shiite opposition group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, boycotted the meeting.

Entifadh Qanbar, head of the exile Iraqi National Congress Washington office and now I-N-C liaison to U-S Central Command, says the task of reaching consensus is not insurmountable.

// QANBAR ACT //

By no means is it an easy process, but it's not an impossible process. Iraqis have proven so far the capability to cooperate and work together and sit together and produce together.

// END ACT //

Raja Kamal, director of the New Initiatives Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, says accommodating everyone might require a redrawing of Iraq's provinces.

// KAMAL ACT //

How you're going to divide this thing is a major challenge. I believe the 18 provinces that exist in Iraq, they're probably have to be redrawn. That's the only way to ensure that each province is going to have a little bit of combination, some mixture, of Sunni, Kurds, and Shiites. Because it will be very, very dangerous if you have certain provinces that are only labeled as Sunni or Shias or Kurds.

// END ACT //

In the meantime, the U-S Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, headed by retired general Jay Garner will run Iraq's day-to-day affairs. The Iraqi National Congress' Entifadh Qanbar, who attended the Nasiriyah meeting, says Mr. Garner's operation will be technical, not political.

// QANBAR ACT //

(It's) basically a body that will run technocratic life. Even an authority must contain a political side to it. But Jay Garner will not have a political arm. He will have only a technocratic arm. That is intentionally being done this way so Jay Garner will not be looked on as imposing American will politically on the Iraqi people.

// END ACT //

More meetings like the Nasiriyah one are planned to give new ideas and leadership time to emerge. Mr. Kamal believes that, given the long years of Saddam Hussein's repression, it may take up to two years for true local leadership to emerge and be accepted. (signed)

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