US ups pressure on Iraqi council

The vision favored by Bremer is for delegates to a constitutional convention to be elected at the provincial level by local tribal leaders, academics, business and religious leaders. The resulting constitution would allow elections to be held by the end of 2004 and a new Iraqi government to assume full sovereignty.

But some prominent Shiite religious leaders, who represent 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, want a national

election to determine who writes the new constitution. That option would raise fears among secular Iraqis or minorities that they could end up with a theocracy.

However, many Iraqis - including Shiites - say the most important thing for them is to have educated individuals who represent the diverse population writing the constitution.

"I'm just a car mechanic, I know I couldn't write a constitution but I do want it to be done by educated Iraqis who will be fair and assure us of rights that have been denied us for 35 years," says Ahmed Hussein, a young man in Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Sadr City.

But a national election just to elect constitutional delegates would take a long time to set up, and would not meet the Americans' current timetable.

As an alternative, Mr. Talabani says he supports the idea of a provisional government that would assume full sovereignty and responsibility for Iraq's affairs while a final constitution is written and elections held. "Such a a process would take a maximum of two years."

Talabani, who assumed the council presidency this month, says his first order of business was "to activate the Governing Council," and he maintains progress is being made. New committees have been formed to delegate authority, he says, and Council attendance - which Bremer has criticized - has improved.

Other members say part of the blame for slow decisionmaking must be assigned to the Americans, whom they see as reluctant to give up authority. "We hope we will be able to implement more of our own decisions without always going through" the CPA, says Dara Noor Alzin, a judge who was jailed under the former regime for decisions that were unacceptable to Saddam Hussein.

Insisting that relations with the Americans "are not difficult," Mr. Noor Alzin says nevertheless that the Council has made many decisions that have yet to be implemented because Bremer has not signed off on them.

Some Iraqis say the members of the governing council are thieves, "Ali Babas" who are only interested in creating jobs for their family. But a surprising number praise a group that was only assembled in July, and are impressed when disputes and political differences are played out publicly in a country that is accustomed to a monolithic political face.

At the same time, however, there is a strong sense that in the end, the Americans remain all-powerful and will have their way - a perspective that would only be cemented if the US decided to alter or replace the council.

"America wants Iraqis to lead Iraqis, but we know America wants a president who will do what America wants," says Mr. Hussein, the mechanic. "If the Americans want my father to be president," he says grinning, "he will be president."

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