Iraq: A member of Iraq's governing council tells Michael Jansen how its work is progressing
Iraq's 25-member governing council seems to have taken the decision to assert itself rather than take instructions from the chief US occupation administrator, Mr Paul Bremer.
Council member Mr Nasir Chadirji said the "council feels itself to be in control" of the political process. Mr Chadirji, one of the seven Iraqis who negotiated with Mr Bremer over the composition of the council and selection of its members, gave an insider's view of the relationship between the Iraqis and Mr Bremer.
Mr Chadirji said Mr Bremer changed his ideas on many issues after holding discussions with the Iraqis.
"When he came he did not know much about Iraq . . . He has listened to us from the beginning. We told him we must decide for ourselves and threatened to withdraw" if he did not go along. Mr Chadirji gave some examples.
"At first he refused to name a governing council but he has done so. He decided Iraqis would serve as advisers to US ministers, this idea was dropped. He planned to appoint ministers, now the council does."
While he is in charge of the police and army, he also listens to our opinion. He raised the number of police for the whole of Iraq from 50-70,000." On Saturday the council appointed a constitutional commission. "All its members but one come from outside the council," Mr Chadirji stated.
"We have complete freedom. There is no US adviser. The constitution will be formed in Baghdad for the Iraqi people by Iraqi people. No one will interfere. Bremer believes this strongly. While asserting their independence, council members are also sharply critical of US policy, particularly on the failure to restore security and services. They are going so slowly."
When asked about the lack of police, Mr Chadirji replied: "They are starting to give them light arms, telecommunications and cars but there are not enough. Compared to what the police used to have it is very small. There used to be 150 cars for every district in Baghdad, now there are 10. They cannot function."
He dismissed the suggestion that policemen should be rewarded for catching criminals. "This would be a very bad precedent. Our police used to be corrupt, we do not want to carry on with this." He is also against buying weapons from the public.
"There are millions of weapons in Baghdad. If we offer to pay for them, people will organise groups to steal weapons and other groups to sell them."
Mr Chadirji also had criticism for the council itself. "It has been slow so far, mainly because we had to draw up the regulations for the council itself. But I think we will make more rapid progress within a month or two."
The council meets from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. or 5.30 p.m., five days a week. Council members who do not live in the capital stay at well-protected hotels. "Mr Bremer has given us information on the state of the ministries, how many people are working, how many need to be hired, the state of the facilities. The coming interim government will, in principle, be made up of technocrats rather than politicians, although if there is one who combines both that will be acceptable.
"It will not be appointed on the basis of sectarian or ethnic affiliation. There will be more than 20 ministries." He agreed that the council itself had been formed on this basis but argued that the ousted government of President Saddam Hussein had divided the country into sectarian constituencies in order to rule.
"This is the form of our society at the moment. It is temporary. While the council may be communal, all Iraq's communities are not included. The Yezidis [a mainly Kurdish pre-Islamic group], for instance. The council should be enlarged to include more people." He does not believe that the Shia majority, which includes half a dozen Islamists, will try to impose an Iran-style "vilayet-e-faqih," rule of the theologians, on Iraq in spite of the fact that at least one of the parties represented, Dawa, calls for just such a government. Mr Chadirji said there were no communal or secular-Islamist tensions within the council, the women attended every meeting and have their say. "Mrs Aqila Hashemi, a French-speaking diplomat, is very outspoken," he said.
He is not worried about the adoption of a federal polity for the new Iraq. "Federalism will unite rather than divide Iraq. Bismarck united Germany by means of federalism," he observed. However, Mr Chadirji said that "federalism applies only to the Kurds [about 20 per cent of the population] not the Arabs." He is even prepared to give the Kurds the northern city of Kirkuk and its oil fields. But not Mosul.
Ministers are expected to be appointed to the interim government by the end of this week.