Post by bot on Jun 2, 2004 3:17:47 GMT -5
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 · Last updated 1:14 a.m. PT
Full sovereignty in Iraq might not be so
By GEORGE GEDDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20What%20Is%20Sovereignty
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and top U.S. officials repeatedly stress that Iraqis will have "full sovereignty" after June 30. The interim Iraqi government that takes power then, however, will be more caretaking than autonomous, unable to do basic functions such as make laws or control military forces.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former President Carter, says the term "full sovereignty" - emphasized Tuesday by Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice - lacks credibility. No government can be fully sovereign while its country is "still being occupied by a foreign army, 140,000 men, subject to our authority," he said.
Brzezinski envisions a government of "limited sovereignty," the same wording used by Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman before Congress in April.
The Bush administration quickly disavowed that phrase in favor of "full sovereignty."
Nevertheless, the Iraqi administration to be installed on July 1 is more a caretaker government than an entity with broad authority to exercise its will.
As an example, U.S. forces there will remain under American control. Also, the approval of any new laws must await the early 2006 installation of an elected government contemplated under the current timetable.
The main task of the interim authority will be to run the country through the various government ministries and to organize elections in January for what Bush calls "the first freely elected, truly representative national governing body in Iraq's history."
The State Department said Tuesday the interim government - a 33-member cabinet was announced Tuesday in Baghdad - will be free to establish diplomatic relations with Iran or other countries if it wishes.
But Simon Chesterman, of the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University, likens U.S. relations with the future Iraqi caretaker government to the dominant role the Soviet Union maintained over pliable East Bloc allies during the last century.
U.S. officials say the two situations are not comparable, based on the permanent nature of the Soviet troop presence in Central Europe contrasted to the U.S. goal of leaving Iraq as quickly as possible and American support for a transfer of power to an elected government.
Powell said Tuesday he believes the transfer in Iraq from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority will be genuine.
"The Iraqi people will now see that their destiny is in the hands of their own leaders," he told reporters. "The occupation as they know it is coming to an end, in that their political leaders are in charge."
Brzezinski sees things far differently.
"The transfer of nominal sovereignty to a few chosen Iraqis in a still-occupied country will brand any so-called sovereign Iraqi authority as treasonous," Brzezinski says.
But U.S. officials hope that Iyad Allawi, prime minister of the new government of the still nonsovereign Iraq, will gain more acceptance from Iraqis than the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, which dissolved itself Tuesday.
In terms of public support, Allawi appears to have a leg up on the council because he has the blessing of Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy to Iraq.
The more the new government is seen as sovereign by outsiders, the better its chance of acceptance by Iraqis.
Accordingly, the administration is nurturing in virtually all public statements the notion that a "fully sovereign" Iraq is about to be born. Powell is confident that the U.N. Security Council will endorse the new arrangement.
The United States and Britain submitted a revised resolution to the council Tuesday that for the first time sets a deadline, 2006, for the departure of U.S. and other foreign troops. It also would give the interim government control over Iraqi army and police forces.
Bush will have plenty of opportunity to present his case to allies. He leaves Thursday for visits to Italy and France. After meetings with leaders of both countries, Bush travels to Sea Island, Ga., to host next week's summit of the Group of Eight, the world's seven major industrial democracies plus Russia.
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EDITOR'S NOTE - George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.
Full sovereignty in Iraq might not be so
By GEORGE GEDDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq%20What%20Is%20Sovereignty
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and top U.S. officials repeatedly stress that Iraqis will have "full sovereignty" after June 30. The interim Iraqi government that takes power then, however, will be more caretaking than autonomous, unable to do basic functions such as make laws or control military forces.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former President Carter, says the term "full sovereignty" - emphasized Tuesday by Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice - lacks credibility. No government can be fully sovereign while its country is "still being occupied by a foreign army, 140,000 men, subject to our authority," he said.
Brzezinski envisions a government of "limited sovereignty," the same wording used by Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman before Congress in April.
The Bush administration quickly disavowed that phrase in favor of "full sovereignty."
Nevertheless, the Iraqi administration to be installed on July 1 is more a caretaker government than an entity with broad authority to exercise its will.
As an example, U.S. forces there will remain under American control. Also, the approval of any new laws must await the early 2006 installation of an elected government contemplated under the current timetable.
The main task of the interim authority will be to run the country through the various government ministries and to organize elections in January for what Bush calls "the first freely elected, truly representative national governing body in Iraq's history."
The State Department said Tuesday the interim government - a 33-member cabinet was announced Tuesday in Baghdad - will be free to establish diplomatic relations with Iran or other countries if it wishes.
But Simon Chesterman, of the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University, likens U.S. relations with the future Iraqi caretaker government to the dominant role the Soviet Union maintained over pliable East Bloc allies during the last century.
U.S. officials say the two situations are not comparable, based on the permanent nature of the Soviet troop presence in Central Europe contrasted to the U.S. goal of leaving Iraq as quickly as possible and American support for a transfer of power to an elected government.
Powell said Tuesday he believes the transfer in Iraq from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority will be genuine.
"The Iraqi people will now see that their destiny is in the hands of their own leaders," he told reporters. "The occupation as they know it is coming to an end, in that their political leaders are in charge."
Brzezinski sees things far differently.
"The transfer of nominal sovereignty to a few chosen Iraqis in a still-occupied country will brand any so-called sovereign Iraqi authority as treasonous," Brzezinski says.
But U.S. officials hope that Iyad Allawi, prime minister of the new government of the still nonsovereign Iraq, will gain more acceptance from Iraqis than the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, which dissolved itself Tuesday.
In terms of public support, Allawi appears to have a leg up on the council because he has the blessing of Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy to Iraq.
The more the new government is seen as sovereign by outsiders, the better its chance of acceptance by Iraqis.
Accordingly, the administration is nurturing in virtually all public statements the notion that a "fully sovereign" Iraq is about to be born. Powell is confident that the U.N. Security Council will endorse the new arrangement.
The United States and Britain submitted a revised resolution to the council Tuesday that for the first time sets a deadline, 2006, for the departure of U.S. and other foreign troops. It also would give the interim government control over Iraqi army and police forces.
Bush will have plenty of opportunity to present his case to allies. He leaves Thursday for visits to Italy and France. After meetings with leaders of both countries, Bush travels to Sea Island, Ga., to host next week's summit of the Group of Eight, the world's seven major industrial democracies plus Russia.
---
EDITOR'S NOTE - George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.