US delays talks on new Iraqi government

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PER133326.htm

BAGHDAD, May 31 (Reuters) - Iraqi politicians said talks on Monday to decide posts in a new government had been delayed by a day at America's behest and complained that Washington was meddling in the selection process. snip

"There's quite a lot of interference. They should let the Iraqis decide for themselves. This is an Iraqi affair," Othman said.

Jawad al-Boulani, an aide to council member Abdulkarim al-Muhammadawi of the Iraqi Hizbollah party, said U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Paul Bremer, the top U.S. official in Iraq, were marginalising council members in the talks and not consulting Iraqi groups outside the council.

"We were hoping that this government would have some legitimacy...but if the government is formed in this way the Iraqi people will reject it," he said.

more

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Just like they rejected

that ugly looking flag we tried to stick on them.

Why does Bremmer and his gang continue to treat everyone else like they're idiots? They really have little or no respect for anyone or anything.

[Disturbed]

2. Bushco and Bremmer

They have little regard for the Iraqi people. Isn't there enough evidence of that yet?

[dbt]

3. The US does not HAVE a day to spare!

And bu$hco damn well knows it. Things are much worse than we are being told if the Regime agrees to even an hour's delay in handing over "sovereignty" to the Iraqis. 31 days and counting, lads. Remember that bu$h says June 30th is a firm date.

See Dick sweat.
Sweat Dick, sweat.
You evil bastard.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Deja Q]

9. I bet $5 that Bush will turn that firm date into a limp one.

He's deceived before.

[nolabels]

10. Do you want the $5.00 dollars now or on account?

This is becoming such a joke that it's getting hard to figure out when the comedy will end :D

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=520574§ion=news

Iraq angry over president deadlock
Mon 31 May, 2004 16:19

By Tom Perry

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders have rounded on the United States and United Nations for blocking their choice of a president to succeed Saddam Hussein when the U.S. occupation authority is wound up in a month's time.

Deadlock set in on Sunday after a prime minister and key cabinet posts were broadly agreed, prompting U.S. officials to ask the Iraqi Governing Council to put off until Tuesday further talks on filling the largely ceremonial post of head of state.

The U.S.-appointed Council favours its present leader, Ghazi Yawar, a prominent tribal leader with support from various ethnic and religious groups. Council members said U.S. governor Paul Bremer and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi were pressuring them to back Adnan Pachachi, an 81-year-old former foreign minister.

"There's quite a lot of interference. They should let the Iraqis decide for themselves. This is an Iraqi affair," Mahmoud Othman, a Kurd on the 22-member Council, told Reuters.
(snip)

[gratuitous]

11. Did we say June 30? We meant June 31!

Just a one day delay in things. No big deal. On June 31, you can bet that the Iraqi people will have full control of their country and its resources. Mark that day on your calendar!

[maddezmom]

4. Brahimi: between UN, US, Iraq, and a hard place

WASHINGTON (AFP) - UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said in an interview that pushy Americans, foot-dragging Iraqis and a lack of security made his job of assembling an interim Iraqi government difficult.

"The security situation is just impossible," Brahimi told Time.


However, better security "will require a lot of work" by the Iraqis, he told the newsmagazine.


Brahimi is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s special envoy to Iraq (news - web sites). The 70-year-old diplomat has been in Baghdad for three weeks consulting with Iraqis in a race against US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s June 30 deadline for returning power to Iraqis.


"I am telling Iraqis, If you expect that on the 30th of June, midnight, 135,000 American soldiers are going to evaporate out of some Aladdin's lamp out of Iraq, then that is not going to happen," Brahimi said in the issue of Time that hits newsstands Monday.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040530/pl_afp/un_...

[truthisfreedom]

5. schmucks.

bushco is a band of idiots.

[tlcandie]

6. It seems to me that 'the new government' is of the mindset that

the US will just disappear as of June 30th! That to me sounds like the MAJOR cog or disruption in this whole deal!


EDIT: From Maddezmom's post

<snip>
"I am telling Iraqis, If you expect that on the 30th of June, midnight, 135,000 American soldiers are going to evaporate out of some Aladdin's lamp out of Iraq, then that is not going to happen," Brahimi said in the issue of Time that hits newsstands Monday.
<snip>

[maddezmom]

7. Council member Sondul Chapouka on CNNI...members are being sidelined

~snip~
Council member Sondul Chapouka, an ethnic Turk from the northern city of Kirkuk, told Associated Press Television News that Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S. governor L. Paul Bremer informed the council that other candidates were being considered for the president's job.


She complained that she and other council members were being sidelined, with the consultations involving only the coalition, Brahimi and prominent council members.


"It would have been better if the entire council was part of those meetings," Chapouka said. "We also are Iraqis and should take part in making decisions that are important to our nation."

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=3&u=/ap/20040531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_politics

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. So much for the first of Chimp's Iraq "policy" speeches.

I can't wait to hear what won't happen next.

Edit to add: I see that it's only delayed for a day. The real story is the US interference.