Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

(Al-Dustour, Baghdad, in Arabic, 15 May) - Publishes an editorial by Basim al-Shaykh entitled "On the margins of the power transition.'' The Governing Council is once again repeating itself by calling for the formation of an interim government comprising representatives of all political parties and trends and ignoring the fact that there are over 250 parties, movements and trends in Iraq now. In other words, the number of ministers in the new interim government should equal the number of these political parties and movements in order to achieve justice on the basis of sectarian and political proportionality which the council has not been able to achieve as yet.
As the application of such an option on the ground is impossible and illogical, the council tends to favour certain parties and movements over others, causing a great wound to the national unity. Repeating the same crippled preference method which was used to form the council a few months ago will lead to rejection and criticism from a large number of the Iraqi people due to the new and different circumstances which prevent a repeat of the same poor scenario in the present situation.
Contrary to what they promote as a strategic goal, insisting that some political parties and figures remain in power is unjustifiable and meaningless. They are knocking on every closed door hoping to find someone home, no matter how weak they are, who can lead them to salvation and get them closer to their aims. Accordingly, the calls for the formation of a national council in the same way and using the same process as was used in forming the Governing Council, that is by expanding and adding new members to the existing council to take part in the interim government in ruling the country after 30 June, are increasing. The determination of some members of the council to remain in power during the interim period is not based on pure patriotic reasons, but represents a political inclination governed by the members' loyalties and their parties' interests in achieving their own personal goals. Such a trend, however, creates unequal chances, depriving the other political parties and forces that are not represented in the council of their deserved chance in the political process in the country. The political selfishness and pursuit of personal interests by attempting to occupy high-ranking positions in the state administration while neglecting the capabilities of others will form an obstacle to the real democratic practice which we are all looking forward to seeing in Iraq. All parties should possess a collective spirit favouring national and public interests over their narrow-minded political interests in order for the Iraqi people to be able to overcome this calamity in order to achieve a better tomorrow and a democratic nation.