Ruling Iraqi Council Shifts Some of Hussein’s Powers to Cabinet

Iraq’s ruling Revolutionary Command Council has turned over some of President Saddam Hussein’s powers to the new Cabinet, the official news agency reported Tuesday.

The move could put more authority in the hands of Sadoun Hammadi, a Shiite Muslim and Arab Baath Socialist Party veteran whom Hussein named prime minister late last month, surrendering one of his leadership titles.

Hammadi, an economist and technocrat who once studied at the University of Wisconsin, is reputed to be an advocate of more representative government for the country that Hussein has ruled with an iron hand since 1979.

But the embattled Hussein retains the presidency and is chairman of the Command Council, commander in chief of the armed forces and head of the ruling party. It is unclear whether he has agreed to give up a meaningful amount of his autocratic power or is merely attempting to put a better public face on his regime in hopes of easing international condemnation.

Specifically, Baghdad is desperately seeking foreign support that could lift a U.N. economic embargo. The sanctions, applied immediately after Iraq invaded Kuwait last August, have blocked Iraq’s oil exports, its predominant source of revenue. Without cash, Baghdad is unable to import food and machinery, leaving a destitute populace increasingly disgruntled.

Saad Jabr, head of a Saudi Arabian-backed, anti-Hussein movement called the Free Iraq Council, told a Reuters news agency reporter in London on Tuesday: “Saddam very much needs a breather. There has been too much pressure on him. He will do anything to pour cold water on the situation.”

Jabr was referring to the continuing talks in Baghdad between Hussein’s government and leaders of the Kurdish insurgency that has tied down his army in the northern provinces. The talks are aimed at giving Iraqi Kurds greater autonomy from the central government, and according to reports in Jordan and London, they are making progress.

Hussein himself continues to keep an almost invisible public profile. He is mentioned only in news accounts of meetings with regime officials or delegations from the provinces.

A week ago, before the Kurdish talks started, Prime Minister Hammadi told a British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent in Baghdad:

“We are ready to turn the page and consider what happened as part of the past. . . . I do not think it is impossible to establish a working relationship or a good relationship between Iraq and the outside world.

“What happened in Kuwait is a matter of value judgement,” he said. “Maybe we have a difference of opinion.”

In announcing new powers for the reshuffled Cabinet, the Iraqi News Agency, quoting an article in the newspaper Babel, reported: “The command of the Revolutionary Command Council has decided the Cabinet should start practicing the prerogatives stipulated by the constitution,” exercising powers “previously reserved for the president.” The report did not specify the powers in question.

When it named the new Cabinet, the Command Council said its primary task is rebuilding the Iraqi economy, which was flattened by a combination of the Gulf War, rebellion and the embargo.

The rebellion and the resulting refugee crisis among Iraqi Kurds is the immediate concern of the Baghdad government, which now finds American and European soldiers operating in northern Iraq just as U.S. troops prepare to leave the south.