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US forces should leave Iraq — Chalabi
Jordan Times, Sunday, September 28, 2003
CAIRO (AP) — US-led occupation troops should leave Iraq and be replaced by an international force charged with protecting the country, the president of Iraq's Governing Council said in an interview published Saturday. Ahmad Chalabi also told the London-based Arabic daily, Al Hayat, that a United Nations resolution to send peacekeepers to Iraq would signal the end to his country's US-led occupation.
"We do not want an occupation force in Iraq" Chalabi told Al Hayat. "But we want an international force to remain in order to protect Iraq from any external dangers, the same as happens in several Arab countries." Chalabi was apparently referring to various Gulf states, including Kuwait, where US forces have been stationed since the 1991 Gulf War that drove Saddam Hussein's occupying forces from Iraq's southern neighbour.
The United States is pushing for a new UN resolution to try to get more countries to contribute troops and money to Iraq. But it faces opposition from numerous Security Council nations that want Washington to relinquish power quickly and give the United Nations a bigger role in overseeing Iraq's political transition. Chalabi told Al Hayat the deployment of a UN authorised multinational force to Iraq "would mean the end of the occupation. It would change the legal situation one hundred per cent." Various countries and international organisations have shied away from officially recognising Iraq's interim Governing Council, arguing that it cannot be seen as the country's legitimate authority while under foreign occupation.
Chalabi, who has close ties with US officials and was a prominent opponent-in-exile to Saddam's regime, said he wanted an "end (to) any foreign troop presence and end (to) the occupation of Iraq." He also added that US officials had told him privately that America wanted to withdraw its forces from Iraq as soon as 2004.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell set out a timeline for drafting a new Iraqi constitution and electing political leaders in Iraq, possibly in a little more than a year. He emphasised it was not a deadline with dire consequences.
"Six months seems to be a good timeline to put out there for the creation of this constitution, and also to give a sense of momentum and purpose to the effort of moving toward full restoration of authority over Iraq to the Iraqi people," Powell said in New York.
"If it's possible to meet that goal of finishing the constitutional work in six months, then it is quite appropriate to consider that shortly thereafter the people would be able to ratify such a constitution and prepare for elections.
"Some people say it would be another six months for elections, but we really can't be precise about it." US officials have also promised to give the United Nations a stronger say in Iraq's elections and its transition to democracy from Saddam's one-party rule, an American official said.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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