Nightline 5/24: The selling of the handover

[Bozita]

 
Nightline Daily E-Mail
May 24, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: President Bush has a speech scheduled tonight, the first of what are said to be weekly speeches, laying out the plan for the transfer of sovereignty to some sort of interim Iraqi government. But there's not a lot of time left before the handover.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The White House has said that the President will speak about Iraq, and the handover, once a week between now and June 30th, when the handover will take place. But with about five weeks left, it's unclear who power will be handed to, and how much power, and... a thousand other questions. The speech tonight is supposed to be the first step in explaining all that. The war in Iraq is also causing problems for the President politically. His approval rating is at an all-time low. Public opinion is turning against the Administration's handling of Iraq. And that has to scare the President's re-election team. So there is a lot riding on tonight's speech. Nightline correspondent Michel Martin will report on the speech itself, and the recent developments that have made it necessary.

And what do the Iraqis think is going to happen on June 30th? Will they have faith in a new government that they really don't have a hand in choosing? And what does "sovereignty" mean? The U.S. and other forces will still operate under coalition command. What exactly will the new government control? Nightline correspondent Dave Marash in Baghdad will report on Iraqi concerns and hopes for the next stage.

And finally, one of the conditions that had never been up for debate has been the territorial integrity of Iraq. One of the fears all along was that the country would break up into competing states, a Kurdish state in the north, a Sunni state in the middle, and a Shiite state in the south. After all, modern Iraq was basically drawn up by the British almost a hundred years ago, should it remain the same today? And that question is being considered again given the conflicts that are raging throughout Iraq today. Maybe it would be better if it was broken up? But then what? Would a Shiite state ally itself with Iran? Would there be conflict between the Sunnis and the Shiites? How would Turkey view a Kurdish state? Chris Bury will anchor tonight, and he'll report on the growing debate over what Iraq should be.

So there's a lot of ground to cover tonight, I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABCNEWS Washington D.C.

[teryang]

1. The "breakup" of Iraq

...would be accompanied by problems similar to the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later Yugoslavia. A de facto "break up" would probably be welcomed by neo-cons, ending Iraq's role as a regional power and allowing the American armed forces to remain indefinitely. A more formal definition of separate states, while impractical because of mixed populations, would interfere with American troop movements.

[indigobusiness]

2. The "breakup" of America, is next.

If Bush is reselected.

[Bozita]

3. Ha! They showed the Dubya close-up photo with his Operation Mountain Bike

... battle scars.

The camera froze and then zoomed in on Dumbya. Sequence lasted a good 15 seconds. All wounds were clearly visible.

Not Dumbya's finest moment.

Very revealing sight of a scarred man who doesn't make mistakes.

[Bozita]

4. Leftcoasters will not feel better about Dumbya after seeing this

The word "quagmire" is not mentioned, but it looms heavily over the entire half hour.

[Bozita]

5. 3 minute warning for leftcoasters