Old Iraqi council clings to key roles

When the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council dissolved itself on June 1 - a month ahead of schedule - it seemed it was all over for a body that Iraqis widely viewed as too close to the United States. But even as the council members gave up their seats, they were writing themselves a leading role in the interim government that takes power next week.

In a little-noticed edict, the defunct council guaranteed itself seats on Iraq's Interim National Council, a 100-member assembly that will have power to approve the 2005 budget, veto executive orders with a two-thirds majority, and appoint replacements to the presidency. The former council also guaranteed itself seats on a headspinning array of committees that will select other members of the new body.

As political players jockey for positions in the upcoming council, the selection process is being dominated by members of the Governing Council - including Ahmed Chalabi, whose office was raided last month by US and Iraqi security forces investigating charges of kidnapping, corruption, and robbery. The role of former council members is raising concerns among many Iraqis that their involvement may taint the legitimacy of the new government. It is especially troubling to those who had hoped for a more homegrown leadership to emerge.

"There are very important and gifted and honest Iraqi personalities who up until now have been distanced from the new government," said Jawadat al-Obeidi, secretary-general of the Iraqi Democratic Congress, an umbrella group of 216 Iraqi political parties. He reels off a list of names of academics, doctors, and other prominent Iraqis who have been excluded from the process. "These people are trying to go to the Governing Council members, but no one answers or returns their calls."

The Interim National Council, which will be chosen by a conference of Iraqi leaders, is supposed to provide checks and balances to the executive branch of the new government, whose top members were chosen from the Governing Council's ranks. It is intended to represent parts of society - women, civil society groups, and others - not reflected in the political parties that dominate the executive branch.

Here's how it will work: In July, a national conference of about 1,000 people will meet. Modeled on Afghanistan's loya jirga, the conference will include people from all walks of life - "tribal chiefs and leaders, trade and professional unions, universities, women's groups, youth organizations, writers, poets and artists, as well as religious leaders, among many others," according to the Interim Government. The Conference will choose the Interim National Council.

But at the moment, the conference is being planned by yet another body, the Supreme Commission for the Preparation of the National Conference. That commission, which will decide who attends the July conference, was supposed to include a broad range of people, including those chosen by Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations special envoy, to represent Iraqis outside the former Governing Council.

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