[The Straits Times - 23 April 2004]:   WASHINGTON - The new Iraqi interim government scheduled to take control on July 1 will have only 'limited sovereignty' over the country and no authority over United States and coalition military forces already there.

Senior State and Defence officials told this to Congress in testimony this week before the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees.

Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said the US will operate under the transitional law approved by the Iraqi Governing Council and a resolution approved by the United Nations Security Council last October.

Both those provisions give control of the country's security to US military commanders.

Whereas in the past the turnover was described as granting total sovereignty to the appointed Iraqi government, Mr Grossman yesterday termed it 'limited sovereignty' because 'it is limited by the transitional law...and the UN resolution'.

'Under the current plan, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, will appoint a temporary government that will run Iraqi government agencies for six months and prepare the way for January 2005 elections of an assembly that will select a second, temporary government and write a Constitution,' he said.

Mr Wolfowitz described the July 1 government as 'purely temporary' and there to 'run ministries...but most importantly, they'll be setting up elections'.

In addition, he said, the government will run the police force 'but in coordination with Centcom (the US Central Command), because this is not a normal police situation'.

'Sovereignty is not something we can, or want, to take back,' Mr Wolfowitz said yesterday, outlining efforts to develop a large, new armed force there.

'The security of Iraq...will be part of a multi-national force under US command, including Iraqi forces.'

Mr Wolfowitz's comments came as he conceded that war costs in Iraq were rising and senior House Republicans pledged to give the military more money this year, whether or not the Bush administration asked for it.

Under questioning before the House committee, he said that as of January, the US was spending US$4.7 billion (S$8 billion) a month and noted that 'there may be a bump up' because of the 20,000 more troops currently there.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, told the panel that intense combat, higher-than-expected troop levels and depleted military hardware 'are going to cost us more money'.

About USS$700 million in added troop costs have been identified and Gen Myers said the service chiefs had identified a US$4 billion shortfall.

'We thought we could get through all of August,' he said.

'We'd have to figure out how to do September... We are working those estimates right now.

'And we've got to take a look and see if we have the wherewithal inside the (Defence Department) budget,' he added.

Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter replied:

'The committee, I think, General, is inclined to help you perhaps more than has been suggested by the Pentagon.' -- Washington Post

White House Says Iraq Sovereignty Could Be Limited

NYTimes 23 April - WASHINGTON, April 22 — The Bush administration's plans for a new caretaker government in Iraq would place severe limits on its sovereignty, including only partial command over its armed forces and no authority to enact new laws, administration officials said Thursday.

These restrictions to the plan negotiated with Lakhdar Brahimi, the special United Nations envoy, were presented in detail for the first time by top administration officials at Congressional hearings this week, culminating in long and intense questioning on Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing on the goal of returning Iraq to self-rule on June 30.

Only 10 weeks from the scheduled transfer of sovereignty, the administration is still not sure exactly who will govern in Baghdad, or precisely how they will be selected. A week ago, President Bush agreed to a recommendation by Mr. Brahimi to dismantle the existing Iraqi Governing Council, which was handpicked by the United States, and to replace it with a caretaker government whose makeup is to be decided next month.

That government would stay in power until elections could be held, beginning next year.

The administration's plans seem likely to face objections on several fronts. Several European and United Nations diplomats have said in interviews that they do not think the United Nations will approve a Security Council resolution sought by Washington that handcuffs the new Iraq government in its authority over its own armed forces, let alone foreign forces on its soil.

These diplomats, and some American officials, said that if the American military command ordered a siege of an Iraqi city, for example, and there was no language calling for an Iraqi government to participate in the decision, the government might not be able to survive protests that could follow.

The diplomats added that it might be unrealistic to expect the new Iraqi government not to demand the right to change Iraqi laws put in place by the American occupation under L. Paul Bremer III, including provisions limiting the influence of Islamic religious law.

Democratic and Republican senators appeared frustrated on Thursday that so few details were known at this late stage in the transition process, and several senators focused on the question of who would be in charge of Iraq's security.

Asked whether the new Iraqi government would have a chance to approve military operations led by American commanders, who would be in charge of both foreign and Iraqi forces, a senior official said Americans would have the final say.

"The arrangement would be, I think as we are doing today, that we would do our very best to consult with that interim government and take their views into account," said Marc Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs. But he added that American commanders will "have the right, and the power, and the obligation" to decide.

That formulation is especially sensitive at a time when American and Iraqi forces are poised to fight for control of Falluja.

In another sphere, Mr. Grossman said there would be curbs on the powers of the National Conference of Iraqis that Mr. Brahimi envisions as a consultative body. The conference, he said, is not expected to pass new laws or revise the laws adopted under the American occupation.

"We don't believe that the period between the 1st of July and the end of December should be a time for making new laws," Mr. Grossman said.

As envisioned by Mr. Brahimi, the caretaker government would consist of a president, a prime minister, two vice presidents or deputy prime ministers and a cabinet of ministers in each agency. A national conference of perhaps 1,000 Iraqis would advise it, possibly by establishing a smaller body of about 100 Iraqis.

His plan would supplant an earlier American proposal that would have chosen an Iraqi assembly through caucuses.

Since last November, when the June 30 transfer of sovereignty was approved by President Bush and decreed by Mr. Bremer in Iraq, the United States has insisted that Iraq would have a full transfer of sovereignty on that date.

Mr. Grossman, however, referred in testimony on Wednesday to what he said would be "limited sovereignty," a phrase he did not repeat on Thursday, apparently because it raised eyebrows among those not expecting the administration to acknowledge that the sovereignty would be less than full-fledged.

The problem of limiting Iraq's sovereignty is more than one of terminology, several administration officials said in interviews this week.

The proposed curbs on Iraqi sovereignty are paving the way for what officials and diplomats say is shaping up as another potential battle with American allies as the United Nations is asked to confer legitimacy on the new government.

"Clearly you can't have a sovereign government speaking for Iraq in international forums, and yet leave open this possibility that we'll do something they won't particularly like or disagree with," said an administration official. "There's got to be something to be set up to deal with that possibility."

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations panel, and Senator Jon Corzine, a New Jersey Democrat, pressed Mr. Grossman on that point.

European and United Nations diplomats said that because the main task of the caretaker government would be to try to secure the support of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Iraqi Shiite leader whose supporters are unhappy with some of the laws enacted by the Iraqi Governing Council, there may have to be a change in these laws.

Under the basic legal framework pressed by Mr. Bremer, Islam is only one of many foundations of the law. Ayatollah Sistani's supporters want Islam to govern such matters as family law, divorce and women's rights. Mr. Bremer had at one time threatened to veto any such changes, but even some administration officials acknowledge that the idea of telling the new Iraqi government it cannot enact new laws is unrealistic.

A European official familiar with Mr. Brahimi's thinking said the envoy wants the caretaker government and its consultative body "to find a consensus on the fundamental law to make sure Sistani is invested."

"Everybody wants to have Sistani on board," said this diplomat. "For that you'll have to pay a price."

The skeptical tone of the foreign relations hearing was set by the committee's chairman, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, who said that without clearer answers, "we risk the loss of support of the American people, the loss of potential contributions from our allies and the disillusionment of Iraqis."

But Mr. Grossman said Mr. Brahimi's plans were still so vague that they have not yet been put in writing to be incorporated into Iraqi regulations.

Mr. Grossman was also asked what would happen if the new government wanted to adopt a foreign policy opposed by the United States, such as forging close relations with two neighbors, Iran and Syria.

The United States, he replied, would have to use the kind of persuasion used by any American ambassador in any country.

Revealed: man in charge of trying Saddam By Margaret Neighbour Key points • Tribunal to try Saddam Hussein is announced. • Charges to be determined by the court and prosecutors. • Lawyer Jacques Verges has agreed to help run Saddam’s defence. THE SCOTSMAN - 21 April 2004: IRAQI leaders have established the tribunal of judges and prosecutors that will try Saddam Hussein and other members of the former Iraqi regime, it was announced last night. Saddam will be tried by seven judges appointed by Salem Chalabi, the general director of the tribunal, who is the nephew of Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) Iraqi National Congress (INC), said Entefadh Qanbar, a spokesman for the INC. Mr Chalabi, a lawyer educated in the United States, has also appointed four prosecutors to direct the case against the former Iraqi leader. The tribunal, which has a budget of $75 million (£41.4 million) for the next financial year, will also prosecute any members of Saddam’s regime who are charged, Mr Qanbar added. A date has yet to be set for the trial of Saddam, who was captured by US troops in December and has since been held at an undisclosed location in or near Baghdad. Charges against the former leader and his officials will be determined by the court and prosecutors, Mr Qanbar said, adding that more judges will be hired for the tribunal. However, before any trial begins, the judges and prosecutors will undergo extensive training, including in international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Since the fall of Saddam’s regime, some 300,000 bodies have been found in mass graves, victims of his regime’s persecution of political enemies, Kurds and Shiite Muslims, and other groups, US officials say. The Iraqi military also used chemical weapons against troops and civilians during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and during a Kurdish uprising. To help to prepare charges, a team of 50 prosecutors, investigators and support staff from the US justice department began flying out to Iraq last month to assemble war crimes cases against Saddam and others in his regime. The unit will sift through thousands of pages of evidence and provide a road-map to help the tribunal. The team includes lawyers, FBI agents, US Marshals Service members and others involved in the federal criminal justice system, said a senior justice department official. Mr Chalabi led a team of Iraqis on a visit to international courts in the Netherlands last month to study how war crimes trials are conducted there. After that visit, Mr Chalabi told the New York Times newspaper that the Iraqi tribunal would prosecute lower-ranking suspects before trying Saddam. The Scotsman revealed last month that the French lawyer Jacques Verges has agreed to help run Saddam’s defence. Known for defending controversial clients, including terrorists and a Nazi leader, Mr Verges said he had received a letter from the former dictator’s family requesting that he take on the role, and had agreed to do so. He added that he hoped to take Saddam’s case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands. However, with the appointment of an Iraqi tribunal, this now seems unlikely. Yesterday’s announcement came as Baghdad was hit by more violence. Guerrillas attacked the capital’s largest prison with mortar shells, killing 22 prisoners suspected of belonging to the anti-US insurgency or Saddam’s former regime, in what a US general says may have been an attempt to spark a riot against their guards. Ninety-two prisoners were wounded in the attack, 25 of them seriously, said Colonel Jill Morgenthaler, a US military spokeswoman. In Mosul, a roadside bomb exploded as a US military convoy passed by, killing one soldier and wounding four others, the military said. Three Iraqi civilians were also wounded. But in the restive city of Fallujah, the fragile peace continued. Iraqi security forces, wearing flak jackets and carrying weapons, moved back into the city as part of an agreement between US officials and local leaders aimed at ending the hostilities. Some 200 members of the Iraqi security forces had returned to their jobs by yesterday afternoon.

U.S. Eases Ban on Ex-Saddam Party Members

By LOUIS MEIXLER

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP - 23 April) - The top U.S. administrator in Iraq announced on Friday an easing of the ban on members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded party, a move that will allow thousands of former Baathists to return to their positions in the military and government bureaucracy.

Most Iraqi leaders welcomed the change, saying the strong purge had been a mistake from the start and fueled the anti-U.S. insurgency. The policy change, however, could face opposition, particularly among Kurds and Shiites who were brutally suppressed by Saddam and welcomed the purge of his followers.

Eradicating the Baath Party was a good policy, but its implementation needs overhauling, L. Paul Bremer, the top administrator, announced in an address on U.S.-run Al-Iraqiya television.

He said more military officers who served in Saddam's army but have clean records would be allowed to join the new army being constructed from scratch by the U.S.-led coalition.

Bremer's speech was aired with an Arabic voiceover. A transcript of his remarks in English was not immediately available.

On Thursday, the Bush administration said it intended to permit thousands of Iraqis who swore allegiance to Saddam's political machine to take themselves off the U.S. blacklist.

Only alleged criminals, expected to face trials, will remain automatically excluded along with the top four levels of Saddam's Baath party and the three most senior levels of ministries of the fallen leader's government, an official of the U.S.-led coalition had said in a telephone interview Thursday from Baghdad.

But other Iraqis who have been banned, including 14,000 discharged school teachers, will get their jobs back if they can make the case that they were party members in name only, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In addition, the process of appealing disqualifications will be speeded up so Iraqis can get rulings more quickly, the official said.

Also, Iraqis who served in Saddam's army, including generals and other senior officers, are needed for the new Iraqi army and will be absorbed at quickly -- provided they are found not to have engaged in criminal activity, the official said.

Gen. John Abizaid, the head of Central Command, disclosed last week that the military was reaching out to former senior Iraqi army officers to help shore up the struggling Iraqi security services

The policy of excluding Baathists was popular with some Iraqis, but Bremer also was receiving complaints that the appeals process was too slow and that too many people remained disqualified even for teaching jobs, the official said.

---

Chalabi compares U.S. policy on Baathists with Nazis 

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BAGHDAD (Reuters - 23 April) - A U.S. policy shift that may allow former Baathists join a new Iraqi government was akin to putting back Nazis in charge of Germany, Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi said on Friday.

"This policy will create major problems in the transition to democracy, endanger any government put together by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and cause it to fall after June 30," Chalabi told Reuters.

He spoke after the White House announced an overhaul of the "de-Baathification" policy, which may let some former members join an interim government being put together by the United Nations ahead of a planned June 30 transfer of power.

"This is like allowing Nazis into the German government immediately after World War Two," added Chalabi, who heads a council committee specifically dedicated to keeping the upper ranks of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party out of office.

Chalabi said U.S. Governor Paul Bremer discussed with the council on Thursday how to reinstate junior public workers, such as teachers, who were nominally Baath members, but did not mention Baathists taking part in a new government.

Bremer was due to explain changes to the policy in a televised speech to Iraqis later on Friday.

The Baath Party, founded by French-educated Syrian intellectuals in the 1940s, ruled Iraq from 1968 until Saddam was toppled last year by a U.S.-led invasion.

"CHAUVINIST AND RACIST"

The former Iraqi opposition, violently crushed by the Baath, supports helping junior party members return to work if they did not commit crimes, but is aghast at the prospect of Baathists returning to assume senior government positions.

"We refuse this U.S. direction. Like the Nazis, the Baath was a chauvinist and racist organisation," said Adnan al-Assadi, an official of the Dawa Party which is represented on the council.

"It will help security deteriorate further, disappoint Iraqis who have trusted the coalition to manage the political process and lead to civil war," he added.

Saddam all but wiped out the Dawa, ordering the execution of its leader Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr in 1980 along with his sister.

The party split and has been trying to recover since Sadr, one of the Shi'ite Islam's foremost thinkers, was killed.

A Sunni Governing Council member also expressed dismay at the White House announcement, although the policy could bring more Sunnis to positions of power.

Naseer al-Chaderji said there were former Baathists who had joined the party without believing in its ideology, but such people would have to be chosen by Iraqis who best know their record if they were to serve in the new government.

The upper echelons of the Baath were mostly from the Arab Sunni minority that ruled Iraq since its foundation in the 1920s but has been losing power and privileges under the U.S.-led occupation.

"The United States have turned Iraq into a guinea pig without giving Iraqis a say," Chaderji said.