Interim Iraqi Government Is Installed

By Edmund Sanders

June 2, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD —

With car bomb and rocket attacks sounding in the background, an interim Iraqi government representing a delicate mix of the country’s main ethnic and religious groups was appointed Tuesday after weeks of wrangling over who would lead the country when the U.S. transfers sovereignty this month.

The new body, including a prime minister, president, two vice presidents and 32 Cabinet ministers, replaced the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, which formally dissolved itself Tuesday morning.

The naming of the government -- the result of long, sometimes acrimonious negotiations among the U.S., the council and the United Nations -- marked a turning point for Iraqis, who are anxious to see an end to the American-led occupation.

The interim body includes a mix of politicians, intellectuals and business leaders. Many of them are U.S.-educated, Western-leaning former exiles who are likely to support U.S. policies in Iraq, but there are also a few whose appointments were resisted by Washington.

Even though Iraq’s new president and prime minister did not appear to be the Bush administration’s top choices, they and the other leaders appointed Tuesday were selected from a pool of politicians who have worked with the U.S.-led civilian administration here for more than a year.

During a day of speeches interrupted by the sounds of explosions around the capital, U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi announced that Ghazi Ajil Yawer, a tribal leader and member of the Governing Council, would become president of the interim government, ending a standoff that threatened to delay the announcement of the body.

The presidency, a largely ceremonial post, was first offered Tuesday morning to former Iraqi Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi, a U.S. favorite who also served on the council. But Pachachi said he declined the offer after several council members voiced their preference for Yawer, who recently has been a vocal critic of the occupation.

At a news conference, Pachachi said he had begun to lose support after being unfairly labeled the candidate most favored by the U.S. Being linked to Washington made him look “less patriotic,” he said.

“The post must be occupied by a person who can gain the support of all sectors of society,” Pachachi said. “He has to be a force of unification, not of division. I realized that there are some sides who expressed their discomfort with me occupying this post.”

During his first address as interim president, Yawer called on the United States to hand over total control of Iraq.

“We Iraqis look forward to being granted full sovereignty through a [U.N.] Security Council resolution to enable us to rebuild a free, independent, democratic and federally unified homeland,” Yawer said.

After suggesting that the U.S. would transfer “limited sovereignty” to the interim government, Bush administration officials recently agreed to “full sovereignty.” But the definition remains unclear. For example, the interim government will be prohibited from changing some laws put in place by the coalition and will not have the power to form agreements that “permanently alter the destiny of Iraq,” according to coalition officials.

Another unsettled issue is how much control the new government will have over U.S. troops in Iraq, which will stay in the country after the Coalition Provisional Authority is dissolved June 30.

Some, including Yawer, want Iraqis calling the shots, but U.S. military officials have said they will be in charge.

In New York, the United States and Britain sought to address concerns about a proposed U.N. mandate for a U.S.-led multinational force by declaring that it “shall expire upon the completion of the political process.”

The new text of a draft resolution circulated by the two countries gives no exact expiration date, but it will be no later than January 2006.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan vowed to consult with the interim body on passing a new resolution embracing the government.

The transitional government will remain in place until direct elections can be held next year.

In Washington, President Bush called the naming of the government a “hopeful day for the Iraqi people and the American people. It’s going to send a clear signal that terrorists can’t win.” But he also warned that violence in Iraq would probably continue as the hand-over date approaches.

“There’s still violent people who want to stop progress,” he said. “Their strategy hasn’t changed.”

In a stark reminder of the nation’s security challenges, a car bomb killed three Iraqis and wounded 27 on Tuesday at the Baghdad headquarters of one of the leading Kurdish parties, a couple of blocks from where the interim government was being announced inside the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area that houses the offices of coalition authorities. Amid the sounds of gunfire and fighter jets, the naming ceremony was briefly delayed.

Earlier in the day, several rockets landed inside the zone, wounding an Iraqi. And north of the capital, in Bayji, an explosion killed 11 Iraqis near a U.S. base.

Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who spent the last month consulting with hundreds of Iraqis, warned that much work remains if elections are to be held in January as planned.

“It’s the first step in a road that will no doubt be long and difficult,” Brahimi said after announcing the government.

Heading the interim body is Iyad Allawi, who as prime minister will manage the day-to-day affairs of the country. A secular Shiite Muslim with links to the CIA, he won the council’s endorsement last week as Brahimi was reportedly set to select Hussein Shahristani, a relatively unknown Shiite nuclear scientist. Saying they were surprised by the council’s endorsement, U.S. officials nevertheless supported Allawi.

On Tuesday, Allawi said Iraqis “don’t want to continue to be under occupation,” but he said he supported the continued presence of U.S. and other foreign forces “to help in defeating the enemies of Iraq.”

He said his priorities were improving security, raising salaries for armed forces and boosting the economy.

“We are starting our march toward sovereignty and democracy,” Allawi said.

Yawer, a Sunni Muslim, will serve as head of state. The two vice presidents are Ibrahim Jafari, a Shiite member of the Governing Council, and Rosh Shawais, president of the Kurdistan parliament.

The remainder of the Cabinet is a mix of Iraqis who were educated in the U.S. and other Western countries. Six are women, and five are governors or officials in regional governments. Five members served on the Governing Council.

The council, which consisted of a carefully balanced panel of party loyalists chosen to represent Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish populations, failed to gain legitimacy in the eyes of most Iraqis.

Yawer called on Iraqis to reject the previous sectarian divisions and start viewing themselves as Iraqis first.

“Let Iraq exist with all its nationalities -- Arabs, Kurds, Turks and all other groups in every corner of the country,” he said.

U.S. officials, including L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator of Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in the country, were among nearly 400 invited guests at the ceremony, but they did not address the new body.

Though Bremer had the final say about who was selected for the interim government, coalition officials have insisted that the process and formation of the government was led by Iraqis.

The somber tone of the two-hour ceremony was lightened when the audience broke into laughter and loud applause after the minister of electricity was introduced.

The position is likely to be one of the toughest jobs in the new government because of the country’s frequent power outages.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Top Iraqi leaders and Cabinet members

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi: Allawi is a U.S.-backed Shiite Muslim with CIA connections. His political party, the Iraqi National Accord, made up largely of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and former military men, stresses secularism and counts Sunni and Shiite Muslims among its members.

President Ghazi Ajil Yawer: A Sunni Muslim and a leader of the Shammar tribe, Yawer was the most recent president of the Iraqi Governing Council, a rotating post. His tribe includes Shiite clans and is one of the Persian Gulf region’s largest. His new job is largely ceremonial.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari: Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, remains foreign minister, a job he has held since September and one he used to promote Iraq at the United Nations and to foreign governments. He has also held high positions in the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan: A former manager of several branches of the Iraqi Real Estate Bank, Shaalan left Iraq in 1985 for exile in Britain because of his opposition to the Hussein regime. He has been serving as governor of Diwaniya in the Shiite-dominated south and is little-known to Iraqis.

Interior Minister Falah Nakib: Nakib was a member of Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress movement in exile, spending time in Syria before joining the Iraqi National Movement, a Sunni offshoot of the INC headed by Nakib’s father. He has been serving as governor of Salahuddin province.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Vice President Ibrahim Jafari, a leader of the Islamic Dawa Party, a Shiite group that opposed Hussein.

Vice President Rosh Shawais, speaker of the Kurdish parliament and a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Justice Minister Malik Dohan Hassan, an early critic of prison conditions under the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Other ministers:

Agriculture... Sawsan Sharifi

Communications... Mohammed Hakim

Culture...Mofeed Jazaeri

Education...Sami Mudhaffar

Electricity...Ayham Sameraei

Environment...Mishkat Moumin

Finance...Adel Abdul Mehdi