Disturbing

There are less than two months before the hand-over and we seem not to know to whom power will be handed? This is not comforting.

U.S., U.N. Seek New Leaders For Iraq

The United States and the top U.N. envoy to Iraq have decided to exclude the majority of the Iraqi politicians the U.S.-led coalition has relied on over the past year when they select an Iraqi government to assume power on June 30, U.S. and U.N. officials said yesterday.

The latest shift in policy comes as the U.S.-led coalition has to resolve some contentious and long-standing issues before the transfer takes place. Earlier this week, the coalition moved to allow former Baath Party members and military officers to return to government jobs.

At the top of the list of those likely to be jettisoned is Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite politician who for years was a favorite of the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney, and who was once expected to assume a powerful role after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials acknowledged.

The whole situation illustrates why setting this date before knowing the who, how and what of the transfer, was a foolish policy move.

And this has the potential of spawning more opposition to the US via Chalabi's group:

Chalabi is part of a wider problem, however. Polls indicate that most of the 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council have little public support nine months after they were appointed. The lack of popular backing is the main reason the United States and United Nations are seeking a new body to govern Iraq before national elections are held in January 2024, U.S. and U.N. officials said.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is in charge of picking the new government in consultation with the U.S.-led coalition, made clear yesterday that the council should disband. "They have said twice, not once, in official documents they signed, that our term will end on the 30th of June," he said in an interview on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" to be aired Sunday.

"All opinion polls, and a lot are taken in Iraq, say that people want something different" than expansion of the council because they fear council members "will clone themselves. And why do you want to have that?" Brahimi asked.

This is, however, legitimate:

All council members will then be free to test their political appeal in the January elections to see how they would fare without U.S. support, U.S. officials added.