[Media-watch] chalabi and so forth

[Billy Clark]

1.  Iraqi Politicians to Issue a Protest of Occupation Rule (New York 
Times) 05/21
2.  Iraqi‚s Seek Greater Authority to Govern (Washington Times) 05/20
3.  Timetable for New Iraq Government Unclear (Associated Press) 05/20
4.  Meeting to Advance Iraqi-Led Government Delayed (Associated Press) 
05/21
5.  INC Says Interim Government to Form by End of June (Reuters) 05/20
6.  Iraqis Uneasy about Transition to Self-Rule (USA Today) 05/20
7.  Political Parties Thrive in Shadow of Saddam Mosque (Christian 
Science Monitor) 05/20
8.  Rift Over Transfer of Power Divides U.S., Iraqis (Reuters) 05/18
9.  Son of Slain Cleric Claims Leadership of Iraq's Shiite Muslims (AFP) 
05/16
10. Fartousi‚s Fatwa: No Alcohol, Cinemas, Unveiled Women (Guardian) 
05/21
11. Chalabi‚s Controversial Rise Viewed (Baltimore Sun) 05/13
12. Chalabi‚s Support from US Circles Provides Advantage (AFP) 05/14
13. Khazraji Reported in Iraq (Tehran Times) 05/21
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1) Iraqi Politicians to Issue a Protest of Occupation Rule
New York Times
By PATRICK E. TYLER
May 21, 2003

AGHDAD, Iraq, May 20  Iraq's main political groups said tonight that 
they were drafting a formal statement of protest to the American and 
British authorities over their plans to declare an occupation authority 
in Iraq, which would delay the rapid turnover of sovereignty to an 
interim Iraqi government.

Iraqi political figures who attended a meeting tonight with David 
Manning, the foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair of 
Britain, said they wanted to work in partnership with Washington and 
London. But they said they were strongly opposed to the reversal in 
policy announced to them Friday.

Hoshyar Zebari, who was speaking for Massoud Barzani, the leader of the 
largest Kurdish faction, told Mr. Manning that the allies needed "a 
political partner" in Iraq, but warned that failure to fill the 
political vacuum with a functioning Iraqi government could incite a 
strong backlash in the Iraqi population and interference from 
neighboring states seeking to move into the void.

Several speakers warned that the allies, in delaying the formation of an 
Iraqi government, would provide ammunition to former Baath Party 
supporters of Mr. Hussein who might contend that the worst fears of 
Iraqis were being realized: a takeover of Iraq and its oil by Western 
powers.

Several Iraqi political figures said they now wanted to press ahead with 
the formation of an interim national assembly that could appoint a 
provisional government, despite resistance from the Bush administration 
and Mr. Blair's government.

In an account of the meeting provided by the Iraqi leaders, Mr. Manning 
said he would take their written protest and a report of their views 
back to Mr. Blair.

At the same time, the political leaders seemed reluctant to break openly 
with the allies. Instead, they said they would pursue a strategy to 
exert political leverage to regain the momentum they had established 
toward forming a government.

"We don't want to clash with them," one Iraqi political figure said 
tonight.

The change in political strategy for postwar Iraq was timed to gain 
support at the United Nations for a new resolution to lift sanctions and 
provide a role for the United Nations in the reconstruction effort. The 
policy was announced last Friday by L. Paul Bremer III, the new civilian 
administrator here, in a private meeting with Iraqi political leaders.

The shift in approach places the United States and Britain at the 
forefront as occupation powers and opens the way to a series of steps 
aimed at re-establishing security and rebuilding governing institutions 
with strong United Nations involvement. It would delay, perhaps for a 
year or more, the installment of an Iraqi government, allied officials 
have told the Iraqi political groups. Officials from those groups said 
the decision was already having a serious psychological impact on Iraqis.

Mr. Manning told the Iraqi political figures that the change in policy 
was forced by political pressures at the United Nations related to the 
draft resolution that Washington and London have tabled in New York. The 
allies want the sanctions lifted quickly, but for the United Nations to 
do so, there has to be an authority in place to do things like sell oil 
or unfreeze and distribute assets of the former government. An interim 
Iraqi authority was deemed insufficient for those purposes.

"We want to be partners, and we want to leave just as soon as we can," 
Mr. Manning said. "But we cannot do that unless we leave behind 
structures that are worthy of you and that are properly assembled."

Several officials said Britain had taken the lead in delivering the 
message to the Iraqi political figures, hoping to persuade European 
members of the Security Council to vote to lift sanctions. But some 
Western officials said it was noteworthy that Mr. Bremer, who did not 
attend today's meeting, was keeping some distance from the dispute. 
These officials suggested that the White House might be giving Mr. Blair 
room to maneuver while reserving an option to resume support for the 
swift formation of an Iraqi government if political developments in Iraq 
and the Middle East demand it.

Earlier this month, Jay Garner, the first civilian administrator sent to 
Baghdad by the Bush administration, said he wanted to form an interim 
government quickly from the ranks of the main groups that opposed Saddam 
Hussein's government for more than a decade.

In the meeting tonight, the Kurdish chieftain Jalal Talabani alluded to 
Britain's past administrative role in Iraq by addressing Mr. Manning as 
representing "our former masters." He said the victory over Mr. Hussein 
"will not be consolidated" until "the right of self-determination of the 
Iraqi people" is secured by Iraqis stepping forward to manage the 
postwar process and preparations for the first democratic elections.

Mr. Talabani said setting up a weak "interim authority," as now 
contemplated by Washington and London, "will deprive Iraq from 
independence, sovereignty and diplomatic relations, which is not good 
for you or for us."

Another leading political figure, Ahmad Chalabi, argued that the allies 
would be taking a negligible risk in forming an interim Iraqi 
government, "since no government would have complete authority in the 
presence of hundreds of thousands" of allied troops. Those troops, he 
said, will represent the real authority in Iraq for some time and are 
needed by the Iraqis to protect the country's borders, secure the 
economic base in the oil fields and deter neighbors from meddling in 
Iraqi affairs.

But as it stands, he said, the allies seem afraid to take a risk on an 
indigenous Iraqi leadership.

"Do you realize that what you are giving the Iraqi interim authority in 
2003 is far less than you gave the Iraqi government when you occupied 
Iraq in 1920?" he said, adding, "You have done this before."

Mr. Chalabi asserted that when the Ottoman Empire fell after World War 
I, Britain formed a new Iraqi government and signed a treaty that 
effectively extended British dominion in the country, while establishing 
autonomy for the Iraqis who lived in the loose federation of Ottoman 
provinces of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.

"We are your best friends here," Mr. Chalabi said. "We want to work with 
you" and want allied forces to "stay a long time" until the country can 
stand on its own feet economically and militarily.

But he also issued what seemed to be a warning that failure to create a 
sovereign government would backfire. "We do not want to make your 
presence here an issue," he said.

Meanwhile, several former Iraqi opposition groups meeting in Berlin 
echoed their counterparts' complaints, saying they feared that the 
occupation authority could evolve into an open-ended ruling mandate.

"If we don't give Iraq the sovereignty they need, this will create 
instability in Iraq and that instability will run through to the whole 
region as well," said Ali Bayati, the London representative for the 
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

----

2) Iraqis win greater authority to govern
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 20, 2003

BAGHDAD  Iraqi political groups won a partial victory last night when 
the United States
introduced an amended Security Council resolution in New York that 
strengthens the
role of an interim Iraqi administration expected to take office within 
weeks.

The original resolution, which would lift economic sanctions on Iraq, 
also contains
language designed to legitimize the role of coalition forces in Iraq as 
they share power
with an Iraqi "interim authority" that would govern for as long as two 
years.

But the Iraqi political groups, including the most fervent supporters of 
the American
military invasion, had complained that the term "authority" was too weak 
and would limit the
body's ability to deal with international organizations such as the 
Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries and the United Nations.

Several leaders of the seven major groups that make up the Iraqi 
Leadership Council said
in interviews that they wanted the resolution amended to provide for an 
interim government
with the authority to make key decisions on laws, the political process 
and the drafting of
an Iraqi constitution.

The resolution introduced at the United Nations last night went part of 
the way in
meeting that demand by using the phrase "interim administration," a U.S. 
diplomat said.
He said the change also addressed concerns raised by other Security 
Council members who
agreed that the word "authority" was too weak.

It was not clear last night whether the change would satisfy the Iraqi 
political groups.

Leaders of those groups, including the passionately pro-American Iraqi 
National
Congress and an Iranian-backed Shi'ite party, had expressed their 
displeasure with the
original language at a dinner with the U.S. civilian administrator, L. 
Paul Bremer, on
Friday evening.

Leaders of the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party 
and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, also attended the dinner, held at the 
former Republican Guard
Palace, which houses U.S. and British advisers.

"This draft resolution has everyone opposed," said Hoshyar Zebari, 
spokesman
for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), in an interview international 
organizations such as
OPEC and the United Nations conducted before the new language was 
released.

"The leadership was united that this new resolution would mean an Iraqi 
interim
authority is not a government, that the real power is the coalition," he 
said.

A representative of another group that attended the Friday dinner said 
none of the
seven groups in the Iraqi Leadership Council had been consulted about 
the language in the
original resolution.

If the resolution had been approved as written, he said, it would be 
very difficult for
the Iraqi administration that is to be established in the coming weeks 
to gain legitimacy with
foreign governments, the World Bank and even, potentially, the Iraqi 
people.

The Iraqi Leadership Council is a broad-based umbrella group of Iraqi
political groups that is expected to form the core of the interim Iraqi
administration to be chosen by the end of the month.

"An interim authority is a very vague concept. I am not sure that an
Iraqi representative would go to OPEC meetings under this setup,"
Entifadh Qanbar, a senior official in the Iraqi National Congress, told
Reuters news agency Sunday.

U.S. officials had been trying to dampen the discord, denying news
reports that they have put off plans for establishing an interim
administration and insisting that they have no intention of staying in 
Iraq
any longer than necessary.

"I don't know where these stories are coming from because we haven't
delayed anything," Mr. Bremer told reporters during the weekend. Other
Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance sources dismissed
the news reports as "nonsense" and "preposterous."

The Iraqi political leaders, whose ideologies and priorities are as
diverse as the ethnic and political groupings in this country of 24 
million,
are working to convene a conference of several hundred academics,
religious and community leaders, and technocrats to exchange views on
governance.

The PDK's Mr. Zebari said yesterday that the leadership council is
committed to holding another broad-based gathering, the third, under its
own auspices, instead of at the invitation of coalition commanders.
But unless the Security Council resolution is amended to give the Iraqis
more power, he said, the late-May gathering "will be pointless."

"Why should we waste our time, our energy, our efforts, on something
that is predetermined?" Mr. Zebari said.

Other groups were more angry than disheartened.

The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has accused
Washington of breaking its promises to set up a sovereign Iraqi
government and threatened civil disobedience if its concerns are not
heeded.

Several thousand Shi'ite Muslims participated yesterday in the largest
protest of U.S. presence in Iraq since the war's end with a noisy but
peaceful rally.

The latest U.S. draft resolution also offers some concessions to
Security Council critics, including a bigger U.N. role in 
reconstruction, to
win broad support.

Council diplomats said the draft would phase out the oil-for-food
humanitarian program, relied on by two-thirds of Iraqis for their food
supplies, during six months rather than the four in an earlier draft.

The new text, which U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte said he
wanted to bring to a vote by the end of the week, also would open the
door to a return of U.N. arms inspectors, though not in the immediate
future, the diplomats said.

Mr. Negroponte told reporters that in introducing its third version of
the draft text, Washington is not likely to agree to any more changes.
"What we are going to propose to delegations is that they seek
instructions [from their capitals] so that they will be prepared to vote
from Wednesday forward," he said.

"We never say never," he said when asked whether the latest text is
being offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. But "what we are signaling 
is
that we have gone just about as far as we can in meeting the concerns
that have been expressed by other delegations," he said.

The draft would end nearly 13 years of U.N. sanctions imposed on
Iraq after its invasion of oil-rich Kuwait in 1990. It would authorize 
the
United States and Britain, as the occupying powers in Iraq, to use oil
revenue to rebuild the shattered Middle Eastern nation.

None of the major powers has threatened a veto, and the resolution is
widely expected to be adopted. But U.S. officials hinted that they are
eager to win France's support in particular, worried that Paris, a
permanent member, might abstain.

French President Jacques Chirac is holding out for further revisions,
including a bigger U.N. role, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

 This article is based in part on wire service reports.

----

3) Timetable for New Iraq Government Unclear
May 20, 2003
By NIKO PRICE
Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - It sounded so specific a few weeks ago: The United
States, with great fanfare, convened a conference of Iraqi political 
figures
and emerged hours later with a timetable  some form of interim
government in early June.

Today, the picture has blurred.

U.S. officials working to build an interim Iraqi government insist 
nothing has changed and no
plans have been delayed. But they also refuse to repeat the timetable 
outlined after an April 28
conference with Iraqi political leaders by President Bush's envoy, 
Zalmay Khalilzad.

The new U.S. civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer, denied suggestions 
that plans for the
interim government had been put on hold. The coalition's Voice of New 
Iraq  
radio broadcast that message Tuesday: "Washington does not intend to 
suspend or
delay the transfer of authority to an Iraqi government."

Six weeks after the U.S. military took Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's
regime collapsed, Iraq remains without a formal government. Ministries 
are operating under
American auspices, staffed by Iraqis who know their employment may be 
limited.

The United States has held two large conferences, hosting scores of Iraqi
political figures for discussions on what form the interim government 
should
take. But exactly how and when that will be done has never been stated 
specifically.

Making those plans more urgent is unwillingness among Iraqis to 
tolerate a
long-term U.S. military occupation.

Three weeks ago, U.S. officials had suggested they were trying to come up
with the best government they could cobble together quickly, then 
perfect it
on the fly. Now, Bremer speaks of building a "representative 
government," a
towering undertaking in a society riven by ethnic and political rifts 
 and
one that will take time.

"This is going to be a difficult job, as indeed the Iraqi leaders  every 
one of
them  recognized," he said Sunday. "We have to deal first with ... law 
and
order, basic services, getting people paid."

One official at the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian
Assistance acknowledged that the process of setting up an interim 
authority
had been slowed by the need to represent all segments of society.

He said the plan was to assemble about 300 representatives  the same
number at the April meeting  "and that out of that meeting will 
emerge ...
the interim authority." He gave no indication of when that might happen.

The Iraqi politicians involved, presumably unwilling to criticize U.S. 
officials,
have said little about the apparent delay.

Asked Tuesday whether Bremer had informed the Iraqi National Congress
about any delay, spokesman Intifadh Qanbari said only: "Discussions are
ongoing. I'm not going any further."

The INC is one of seven interest groups that has been meeting with the
United States and is expected to form part of the nucleus of a new Iraqi
government. Others include the two major Kurdish groups from northern 
Iraq
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party
and a Shiite Muslim group, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution 
in Iraq.

Many of those groups are eager to get a government  however temporary
in place. Representatives met Tuesday with U.S. and British officials to
discuss when that might happen. Delegates at the meeting said no firm
decisions were reached.

"Everyone agreed it should be formed as soon as possible," Noori 
Badran, a
representative of the Iraqi National Accord, told The Associated Press.

Many Iraqis, especially former government workers, are impatient to get
things going.

Other than a one-time $20 emergency payment, most have not been
paid since the war began March 20.

"The sooner the new government is formed, the better," said Raeeda
Sadiq, a 35-year-old accountant at the Finance Ministry. "We do not
know who to go to with our complaints as civil servants."

The top problem on most Iraqis' minds is safety. Though courts have
slowly opened and some police have returned to their beats, banditry and
carjackings remain common.

"We think the faster we go into an interim government, the faster we
achieve security," said Adel Abdel-Mahdi, a spokesman for SCIRI, the
Shiite Muslim political movement. "The interim government is a central
point that can resolve all the other issues."

Many Iraqis also say their streets will remain unsafe until there is a 
government.

"Any delay in setting up a new government would certainly keep us up at
night," said Hussein Abbas Jaber, a 50-year-old clerk at the Finance
Ministry. "Anyone could come into your house and kill you."

On one thing everyone agrees: A full government will take time. Iraqis,
who for decades have been forbidden to talk politics, now must help
forge a new state.

Qanbari said an interim government should draft a constitution that could
be debated for about two years and confirmed in a referendum. Only
after that, he said, could voting for a full-fledged government be held.

"The interim government must take a certain time to form political life 
in
Iraq," he said. "There is no political life after 35 years of a 
totalitarian regime."

----

4) Selection of Iraq Gov't Likely Delayed
By JIM KRANE
Associated Press
May 21. 2003

A national conference that will pick Iraq's new interim government will 
probably be delayed
until mid-July, the top U.S. official in Iraq saidWednesday.

Six weeks after the U.S. military took Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's 
regime collapsed, Iraq
remains without a formal government. Ministriesare operating under 
American auspices, staffed
by Iraqis who know their employment may be limited.

"We're talking now like sometime in July to get a national conference 
put together,"
said L. Paul Bremer, Iraq's U.S. civilian administrator. "I don't think 
it will be in June."

He estimated the conference would be held in mid-July, claiming that an 
earlier
June deadline was created by the press. Other Western officials have 
said the plan
was to assemble about 300 representatives from Iraq's many factions who 
would
elect a new authority.

"I'm not going to stick myself with any kind of media deadline," Bremer 
added
during a tour of the just-renovated al-Karkh jail in central Baghdad.

Until Wednesday, U.S. officials working to build an interim Iraqi 
government had
insisted that no plans have been changed. But they also refused to 
repeat the
timetable outlined after President Bush's envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, held 
an April 28
conference with Iraqi political leaders. That timetable called for some 
form of
interim government in early June.

Bremer did not say what caused the delay.

"We are continuing our active dialogue with Iraqi leaders, we are 
meeting with them
every day," Bremer said.

The earlier U.S. goal of establishing the best Iraqi government that 
could be sworn
in quickly also appears to have been brushed aside. Bremer confirmed 
Wednesday
that his goal was to establish a government "representative of all 
Iraqis," a larger
undertaking in a nation divided along ethnic, religious and political 
lines.

"We're going to broaden our reach with partners we're talking to," 
Bremer said.

"We want a government representative of all Iraqi people," he said. 
"That's the
process we're in now. We are moving as quickly as we can."

Bremer's aim to build a more inclusive government could negate the 
results of a
conference of seven leading Iraqi political figures held Friday.

Bremer said that meeting, billed as a meeting of political figures 
likely to form the
core of a new government, wasn't "representative of the Iraqi people."

Bremer had reported on Friday that the group had agreed on three 
priorities:
restoring security, building democracy and rooting out the remnants of 
Saddam's
Baath Party.

Despite the delays in forming a government, Bremer said coalition forces 
would
stay in Iraq only as long as they were needed.

"We have no strategic desire to be in Iraq any longer than we have to," 
he said.

While muggings, shootings and thefts continue to plague Baghdad and, to 
a lesser
extent, the rest of Iraq, Bremer focused on recent positive changes.

"Life is getting better for Iraqis very quickly," he said, adding that 
additional U.S.
troops and a newly reconstituted Baghdad police force were attacking the 
problems.

"We certainly have a law and order problem in Baghdad we're trying to 
deal with,"
Bremer said. "We're trying to deliver security to the Iraqi people."

Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, accompanied 
Bremer
on the tour after arriving Tuesday to become Bremer's adviser on law 
enforcement
issues.

Asked whether Baghdad's 8,000-man civilian police force was sufficient 
for a city of
five million, Kerik replied: "They're going to need more."

Bremer and his entourage also heard a briefing from U.S. Military Police 
in a
nearby building, where Capt. Charles Baysinger, commander of the 1139th 
Military
Police Company, described joint U.S.-Iraqi patrols throughout Baghdad.

Baysinger also said Baghdad police, previously restricted to carrying 
single-shot
pistols, were now being allowed to carry AK-47 automatic rifles after 
undergoing a
U.S. training course.

-----

5) Iraqi Group Says Interim Government by End of June
Reuters
May 20, 2003
By Wafa Amr

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A leading Iraqi political group said Tuesday an
interim government would be established in Iraq by the
end of June to fill a power vacuum since the fall of Saddam.

Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), a 
group led by
pro-U.S. businessman Ahmed Chalabi, said Iraqi political groups were 
holding intensive
meetings with the U.S. administration to speed up the formation of a 
transitional government.

"We believe an interim Iraqi government will be established by the end 
of June. It's only a
matter of weeks," Qanbar told Reuters at theINC headquarters in Baghdad.

He said talks over the transitionaladministration had not been finalized 
yet, "but
we think for practical technical and moralreasons, Iraq should be for 
the Iraqis."

Some Iraqi groups say the United States has reneged on promises to form a
U.S.-supervised interim government and had delayed the holding of a
national conference to discuss preparations for the proposed provisional 
authority.

However, the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Sunday he was
pushing ahead with setting up the interim authority, denying Washington
was suspending the transition process.

He said he would hold more talks with Iraqi political leaders later this 
month.

"An interim government is the only viable solution here," Qanbar said. 
"We
need a transitional period to democratize Iraq and to transform it into 
a civil
society. We need two years to do that."

He told a news conference that the power vacuum in Iraq had delayed the
rebuilding of the country's infrastructure destroyed during and after 
the war
and contributed to the absence of law and order that has terrorized 
residents.

"A political solution is the answer to solving the other problems of 
electricity,
infrastructure, energy and other problems," he said.

----

6) Iraqis uneasy about power handoff
Politicians concerned that U.S. may delay formation of an interim 
government
By Vivienne Walt
USA TODAY
May 20, 2003

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi politicians say they fear that any U.S. efforts to 
delay the
establishment of an Iraqi-run government could increase the already
simmering anger over the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Their concerns were enhanced Friday when the new American administrator
of the country, meeting for the first time with Iraqi leaders, appeared 
to
hesitate over forming an Iraqi-led government. U.S. officials seemed to 
back
away from a plan to form an interim Iraqi government within a month,
preferring instead to control the country's military, trade and foreign 
relations
for the next year.

Speaking Sunday in Mosul, a northern Iraqi city that already has an 
elected
City Council, U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer denied he would
delay the handover of power to locals. Bremer said the United States 
remains
committed to establishing an interim national government without delay. 
''We
are intent on moving as quickly as possible,'' he said.

However, Bremer told politicians on Friday that he believed they needed a
transition period. Iraqi leaders want a temporary government formed 
quickly,
and they hope elections can be held as soon as next year.

''We want to see some seriousness by the Americans,'' said Bahaa Mayah, 
an
official of the Iraqi National Congress, the group of Iraqi exiles most 
closely
aligned with the Bush administration. INC leader Ahmad Chalabi and six
other major political leaders -- mostly Iraqi exile groups -- attended 
Friday's
meeting.

''They were serious about taking out Saddam Hussein. But they haven't
shown much seriousness after that,'' said Mayah, who spent years in 
exile in
Montreal. Iraqis have complained that the first U.S. efforts to govern 
Iraq,
directed by retired Army lieutenant general Jay Garner, failed to provide
security or stability. They also said too many members of Saddam's Baath
Party were permitted to return to positions of power.

In his first act in office, Bremer issued a decree Friday banning the 
four top
layers of the Baath Party from holding thousands of government jobs,
including positions as teachers, police officers and bank clerks.

But many Iraqis say the order won't stop growing internal anger at the
Baathists, who are held responsible for carrying out the harsh and often 
brutal
orders of the former leaders. With thousands of executed Iraqis being
unearthed from mass graves across southern and central provinces, the 
thirst
for retribution is growing, Iraqis say.

'Victory is still short'

About 1,500 people marched Sunday to a square in the west Baghdad
neighborhood of al-Mansour, where they pulled down a statue of Ahmed
Hassan Al-Bakr, Iraq's first president from the Baath Party. Bakr was
overthrown by Saddam in 1979. ''Our job is to take reprisals for those 
whose
hands are stained in blood,'' said Akil Abu Muslim, 31, a leader of the
demonstration. He would not say whether reprisals would include violence.
U.S. soldiers watched the demonstrators from armored vehicles.

''We want to tell President Bush and the U.S. Army that your victory is 
still
short because many Baathists are inside Iraqi society,'' Sheik Mohammed
Bakar Abdul Jabbar Al-Basri said at the demonstration. ''Nothing should
remain of the party.''

An Iraqi political adviser who attended Friday's talks with Bremer said 
he
feared U.S. officials still had no concrete plan to hand over power to 
Iraqis.
The adviser, who asked not to be named, said Iraqi politicians at the 
meeting
pushed to form a national security force to stop the crime and violence 
in
Baghdad.

Some Iraqi politicians envision a government that has the power to trade 
with
foreign countries and set up an army, while thousands of U.S. troops 
remain
to provide security.

The United States faces a far trickier task in crafting a government 
here than
in Afghanistan after the war there in 2001. There is no unifying force 
like
Afghan President Hamid Karzai. During Saddam's quarter-century of total
power, no challenger survived long enough to gather leadership 
experience,
let alone a constituency.

A handful of well-funded leaders have returned from exile to fill the 
political
void. They are vying to control one of the Middle East's richest 
countries.
Each of them has a private, well-armed militia.

Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, who arrived in
Baghdad last month from exile in northern Iraq, said it's too early for 
U.S.
forces to leave Iraq.

''Let's be frank, we need the Americans here now,'' he said. ''We need 
the
U.S. to prevent regional intervention.'' But he said that Iraqis should 
have
control over the political scene. ''If we have our government, our 
sovereignty,
the presence of the U.S. forces will not be dangerous.''

Another force on the political landscape is Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir
al-Hakim. The popular Shiite Muslim cleric returned to the holy city of 
Najaf
from exile in Iran nearly two weeks ago. Hakim heads the Supreme Council
for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is allied with mostly Shiite 
Muslim Iran.
Saddam's mainly Sunni Muslim government fought a bloody war against Iran
in the 1980s. Hakim's SCIRI was among the groups at Friday's meeting with
Bremer.

Upon his homecoming to Najaf, Hakim promised democracy. He also said he
would resist interference from Iran, whose Shiite clerics are strongly
anti-American and have imposed a strict Islamic government on their 
country.

Word of mouth

Hakim has refused to say whether he wants to be president. But across
southern and central Iraq, supporters have begun working on Hakim's 
behalf.
Some control Iraq's most powerful political stages: the mosques.

Sheik Fadil Mohsen Al-Saloom, 56, a blind cleric in a gray traditional 
robe
and white skullcap, says he spreads Hakim's message daily at a mosque in
Baghdad's central neighborhood of Karrada, which is heavily Shiite. For
years, the sheik has distributed government-issued food to 150 families 
in the
neighborhood. Until the war, each family received monthly rations under a
United Nations program. Saloom said he learned to gauge the people's
desires through their monthly visits. He said he reached this 
conclusion: ''After
35 years of oppression, people are ready for a religious leader.''

That is not the outcome the Bush administration envisioned before 
crushing
Saddam last month. Concerns about the power of the Shiite clerics may be
one reason to delay an interim government. Postponing the handoff could
prevent Shiite clerics from grabbing control in the south -- and in 
Baghdad,
where Shiites make up half the population.

-----

7) In the shadow of Hussein's mosque, parties blossom
A gargantuan, half-finished structure becomes unlikely home base for 
groups vying for postwar influence
Christian Science Monitor
By Hassan Fattah
May 20, 2003

Not far from the Tigris River, the skeleton of Al Rahman mosque 
punctures the Baghdad skyline, towering
over nearby luxury homes and serving as a potent symbol of Saddam 
Hussein's rule. Twenty stories high,
with 64 domes, and set on some 100 acres, the mosque is at once 
awe-inspiring and grotesque.

Yet for a handful of Iraqi political parties whose offices encircle the 
mosque, the half-built structure is a daily reminder of the continuing 
influence of Saddam's legacy in Iraqi politics.

Four years ago, Mr. Hussein set out to create the largest mosque ever 
built - as big as two football fields.
The Saddam Mosque, recently renamed, was to be the crowning achievement 
in his campaign to bolster his Islamic credentials.

Billions of dollars in the making, the mosque now rests half built, 
cranes still looming above the scaffolding, presenting its neighbors 
with a conundrum: You can destroy pictures and statues of Hussein, but 
you can never destroy a mosque.

The irony is not lost on the members of the political parties skirting 
the structure. In mid-April, US-backed
Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress opened its headquarters on the 
northeast corner; Adnan
Pachachi's Independent Democratic Party established itself along the 
southwestern corner in early May.
Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim's Shiite SCIRI party opened a regional office in 
an abandoned house one block away; a few blocks in the other direction, 
the Kurdish Democratic Party opened a branch in an old office building.

Inside the mosque itself, the Shiite Hawza, a clerical organization, 
opened its doors just days after the
regime fell, leading Friday prayers, running an Islamic school, and 
supporting political activities.

But the site is not necessarily an easy place to work. When Abbas 
Fathil, an employee of the INC, sets his sights on the gargantuan 
structure, he recalls the torture and punishment he once faced at the 
hands of Hussein's jailers. "This mosque is the very symbol of the 
hypocrisy and cruelty of Saddam," says Mr. Fathil,who escaped death when 
he was released in November in Hussein's unprecedented amnesty of Iraqi 
prisoners. People who have gone through the mosque's foundation have 
found hidden tunnels and ominous cavernous spaces, he notes. "He was 
trying to appear religious above ground, while underground he had 
prisons. What more is there to say?"

Yet when Abu Abdullah al-Kawbi, secretary of Al Hawza, walked into the 
mosque a few weeks ago, he was overcome by a sense of opportunity.

"When the regime fell, this unfinished building went empty and we saw an 
opportunity in it," says Mr. Kawbi. "It was unfinished, but we came to 
pray in it anyway. It become a Shiite mosque, a mosque for us."

Long the focus of Saddam's subjugation, many of Iraq's Shiites saw the 
mosque as the ultimate insult,
providing Sunnis with yet another place of worship even as Shiites were 
being denied a place of their own. .

"Before, all our places of worship were small and cramped and we had to 
pray in the streets," Kawbi says.

"We think it is the right of the Shiites in Iraq to have a full mosque 
[to pray in]. We will ask whatever
government that is formed to finish this mosque [for us]."

The mosque cannot be demolished, most of its neighbors agree. Yet 
completing it would come at a pricetag Iraq can ill afford. And turning 
the mosque over to Al Hawza threatens to ignite growing animosities 
among ethnic groups.

Those issues only highlight the challenges to come, Fathil says. "It is 
a reminder that nothing yet has
[really] changed; we still have a long way to go in this country."

Basil al-Naqib, a strategist with Mr. Pachachi's party, is of like mind. 
When he locks onto the mosque, he
remembers the conundrums Iraq will confront. "It is as if [he] tried to 
build the pyramids," notes Mr. Naqib.
"He built huge mosques on the idea that they wouldn't be hit [by the 
Americans], that it would remain a
symbol of him even if he were killed."

As time passes, hopes one of Al Rahman's neighbors, the mosque will 
cease to be a symbol of the former
dictator and will simply represent Iraq. Until then, say many who face 
the structure, Saddam may continue
to tower over Iraqi politics.

----

8) Rift Over Transfer of Power Divides U.S., Iraqis
Reuters
May 18, 2003
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. administrator Paul Bremer Sunday insisted
he was pushing ahead with the creation of an Iraqi interim authority, 
but Iraqi
groups accused Washington of backing away from its promises to hand real
power to Iraqis.

Among the critics are members of the former exiled Iraqi National 
Congress (INC), usually
considered strongly pro-American, and a major Shi'ite group which 
threatened a campaign of
civil disobedience.

Bremer said during a visit to the northern city of Mosul he would hold 
more talks with Iraqi
political leaders later this month on the establishment of the interim 
authority, and
dismissed U.S. media reports that the process had been delayed.

"I don't know where these stories are coming from because we haven't 
delayed anything,"
Bremer told reporters.

The New York Times said Bremer and British officials had told Iraqi 
leaders at a meeting
Friday they had delayed indefinitely a plan to allow Iraqis to form a 
national assembly and
interim government by the end of the month.

Delay or not, senior Iraqi political figures in any case expressed deep 
suspicion of the term
"interim authority" rather than a more powerful "interim government" to 
pave
the way for elections.

They said an "authority" was unlikely to grant Iraqis full control over 
sensitive
ministries and foreign policy.

The disagreement is the first public rift between the INC, the former
opposition in exile, and Washington since President Saddam Hussein
was ousted last month.

"An interim authority is a very vague concept. I am not sure that an 
Iraqi
representative would go to OPEC meetings (of oil
exporting countries) under this setup," Entifadh Qanbar, a senior 
official in
the Iraqi National Congress, told Reuters.

"We will continue to tell him and push very hard. Anything of this sort 
will
not work. The U.S. will come back and accept an interim government,"
Qanbar said.

Qanbar said the United States had repeatedly agreed to form a sovereign
government rather than a mere "authority."

SHI'ITE DISCONTENT

One Iraqi politician said the U.S. and British officials had told the 
former
opposition Friday they would transfer power to an interim authority in 
stages.

He said the handover of some ministries would happen as soon as an
authority was established, but control of sensitive ministries such as
interior, defense and foreign affairs would be transferred only later.

The Shi'ite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) 
also
accused Washington of breaking its promises to set up a sovereign Iraqi 
government.

Ahmad Khaffaji, SCIRI's politburo member, said U.S. envoy Zalmay
Khalilzad had made such pledges at pre-war conferences in London and in
northern Iraq.

"We demand that the Americans fulfil their promises," Khaffaji said. 
"Civil
disobedience will otherwise follow."

Many Iraqis are relieved that Saddam's 24-year rule is over but horrified
by lawlessness and the breakdown of water, power and health services
in the aftermath of war and are skeptical about U.S. motives in Iraq.

Bremer described Friday's meeting with Iraqi leaders as "productive" and
said he was committed to meeting them again within the next two weeks
"as we move rather quickly in this transitional phase."

Bremer, on his first trip to northern Iraq since he assumed his post two
weeks ago, held talks in Mosul with local officials and hailed "the
embryonic democracy" in Mosul, which has already elected its own local
council.

Cheering Iraqis brought down the statue of Saddam's predecessor in
Baghdad Sunday, one of the last remaining symbols of the 35-year reign
of the Baath Party.

Iraqis brought a crane into the Mansur district of Baghdad and knocked
down the only statue in the city of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr who served as
president from 1968 to 1979.

"Exterminate Baath criminals," read a banner held by Iraqis who watched
as Bakr's statue was brought down. "No mercy with Saddam's regime,"
another banner read.

----

9) Son of slain cleric claims leadership of Iraq's Shiite Muslims
AFP
May 16, 2003

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - The son of a prominent cleric executed by Saddam
Hussein  openly claimed the leadership of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, 
in a fresh display of the power struggle between three powerful groups 
based in this holy city.

"The coalition forces have no legal authority. I am the spokesman for 
the Shiite people. Only I
have the legal right to direct them," Muqtada al-Sadr told worshippers 
in his Friday prayer sermon.

"Some religious schools have opened their doors without our permission. 
Only we have the
right to decide when they should open," he added, speaking at Najaf's 
al-Kufa mosque.

He also stated that "no one should buy or sell looted goods" and that 
"thieves should be found
and punished."

Muqtada al-Sadr, 30, is the sole surviving son of Grand Ayatollah 
Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr,
who was assassinated here in Najaf in 1999 in a killing blamed on the 
Baghdad regime.

Sadr's group is one of three main Shiite factions competing for power in 
Najaf, the clerical heart
of Shiism and site of the shrine of Imam Ali, a nephew of the prophet 
who Shiites believe was
his rightful successor.

Earlier this week Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim returned to Najaf
after a 23-year exile in neighbouring Iran. His Iranian-aided Supreme
Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) has recently set up 
shop
in the city, backed up by members of its armed wing, the Badr Brigade.

The third main faction is Al-Dawa, a hardline group that built up an 
extensive
network of militant cells in Iraq under the Saddam regime.

Despite claiming leadership of the Shiites -- who make up around 60 
percent
of Iraq's population -- Muqtada al-Sadr did issue an appeal for unity.

"We are all Muslims and brothers because we have the same God, the
same message and the same home. Our unity is our strength. Unity is not
just a word. We must make it a practical reality," he said.

"All the reasons behind the discrimination between us have been removed.
Now it is our chance to show people all over the world how Muslims can 
live together."

----

10) 'Iron hand' cleric issues fatwa amid Baghdad chaos
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
May 21, 2003
The Guardian

Baghdad's most powerful Shia cleric warned yesterday that he
would use a "hand of iron" to impose an extreme vision of Islam
that could seriously challenge America's secular ambitions for Iraq.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Fartousi, a youthful hardliner, said he
would enforce a new fatwa that bans alcohol, commands women
to wear veils and orders cinemas to close.

The sheikh appears to have considerable popular support in the
vast, impoverished Shia district in eastern Baghdad formerly
known as Saddam City, where his supporters stepped in swiftly
to fill the power vacuum after the war.

Sheikh Fartousi, 31, admitted having up to 1,000 armed, former
soldiers under his control, several of whom were guarding his
office yesterday at the small al-Hekma mosque. While US
troops continue to patrol most of Baghdad, none was in
evidence in the Shia district yesterday.

On Friday the sheikh issued his fatwa, ordering his laws to be in
place by the end of this week. Several alcohol factories were
attacked hours later.

Yesterday Sheikh Fartousi said Baghdad's sizeable Christian
population should also follow his commands. "Our fatwa is for all
the people. Alcohol is banned under every religion."

A committee from the mosque would be sent to the house of
any who refused to obey. "It should be a hand of iron to handle
this matter. We will send these people to the Islamic courts."

His words will not be welcomed by all Iraqis. The country is one
of the more secular countries in the Arab world. In Baghdad,
alcohol is readily available and women often walk unveiled in the
streets, study freely at universities and, in the past, were able to
find work.

Saddam Hussein's crude attempts to Islamise the country in the
last decade were built on a fragile foundation based on crushing
Shia opposition and building himself monumental mosques.

Sheikh Fartousi was quick to criticise the US military for its
handling of Iraq since the fall of the regime. "They haven't done
anything. At the hospitals, it is our doctors running things ... The
Americans should do what they promised and give authority
back to the Iraqi people."

Although a relatively young cleric, Sheikh Fartousi is a leading
figure in the al-Sadr movement, based around the followers of
Imam Mohammed al-Sadr, a senior Shia cleric who was
executed by Saddam in 1999. It is one of several Shia factions
vying for power in the new Iraq, though its influence is evident in
the decision to rename the Shia suburb of eastern Baghdad
Sadr City.

Sheikh Fartousi said he was sent to Baghdad immediately after
the war by the Hawza, the Shias' intellectual centre in the holy
city of Najaf. He had worked for the clerics there, supervising
Islamic schools.

It appears last Friday's fatwa was not officially approved by the Hawza

The sheikh said he had no political ambitions and did not
envisage an Iranian-style theocracy for Iraq.

But he added: "Without proper leadership, our people will be in a
very dangerous situation."

----

11) In postwar power scramble, Chalabi has key ally with U.S.
Iraqi opposition leader's growing influence seen by his critics as 
ominous sign
By Mark Matthews
Baltimore Sun
May 13, 2003

WASHINGTON - President Bush says he wants the Iraqi people to pick
their future leaders. But one man in particular, Ahmad Chalabi, has 
gotten
a major boost from the United States in the scramble for power in
postwar Iraq.

Other would-be political players in Iraq seized on the chaos that 
followed
Saddam Hussein's fall to set up headquarters in choice buildings
abandoned by the old regime. But only Chalabi has a stipend from the
American taxpayers, a 700-member militia trained and paid for by the
United States, his own liaison officer with U.S. authorities, and close 
ties
on Capitol Hill and with senior officials in the Pentagon and Vice 
President
Dick Cheney's office.

Ensconced in the Baghdad social club once owned by Hussein's son
Odai, Chalabi is emerging as a big-city-style political boss, 
intimidating
critics and potential foes while delivering services to Iraqis 
struggling to
rebuild their lives amid rampant lawlessness, power failures and water 
shortages.

These actions "will serve him well" if and when, despite Chalabi's 
repeated
disclaimers, he decides to run in Iraqi elections for a leadership post, 
one
Bush administration official said.

"The U.S. military is very busy and can't be everyplace at once. Chalabi
knows that's the case. Why not use his people to fill that void?" the 
official said.

To his passionate supporters in Washington, Chalabi's growing influence
in Baghdad is a fitting reward for someone who labored for more than a
decade to bring about the fall of Hussein and the rise of democracy in
Iraq, braving personal danger, bureaucratic hostility and infighting 
among
other Iraqi exiles.

But to his critics here and in the region, the role Chalabi has assumed 
is an
ominous sign that the United States, contrary to its pledge to honor the
Iraqi people's choice of leaders, is intent on installing a government 
that
will advance U.S. dominance in the region.

Born into a wealthy, secular Shiite family, Chalabi, 58, went into exile 
as a
teen-ager with his family after the 1958 coup that overthrew Iraq's
Hashemite monarchy, with whom the family had close ties. With degrees
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of
Chicago, he taught at the American University in Beirut and then
embarked on a banking career.

An aroma of financial scandal has clung to Chalabi since 1989, when his
family's banking institutions in Switzerland, Lebanon and Jordan 
collapsed
one by one. In 1992, Chalabi was convicted and sentenced in absentia by
a Jordanian security court of defrauding the Petra Bank, which he
founded, in a case that he and his supporters blame on Iraqi leader
Hussein's powerful influence in the kingdom.

But by then, Chalabi had already drawn the attention of the Central
Intelligence Agency, which was seeking to recruit anti-Hussein exiles to
destabilize the Iraqi regime. With money and equipment from the U.S.
government, Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress moved into northern
Iraq in October 1992, hoping to use U.S.-protected Kurdish territory to
launch a series of covert actions against Hussein's regime.

Chalabi's role in an aborted anti-Hussein offensive in 1995 convinced
some in the Clinton administration that the INC leader and the CIA
operatives he was working with were exceeding their mandate.

A more serious breach between Chalabi and the administration came the
following year, when Hussein's forces captured and executed more than
200 INC personnel in northern Iraq, causing other INC members and
U.S. intelligence officers to flee northern Iraq.

The two episodes left a residue of mistrust between Chalabi and some
key officials of the CIA that was compounded by skepticism about
Chalabi's belief that Iraqi opposition forces could topple Hussein with 
only
modest U.S. military support.

Feeling that the opposition forces had been betrayed by the Clinton
administration, Chalabi turned his attention to Capitol Hill, teaming up 
with
members of Congress and staffers seeking to make "regime change" in
Iraq the official U.S. government policy.

Chalabi drew support not only from such congressional leaders as
then-Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, but also from out-of-power
conservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz, now deputy secretary of defense.

Displaying the political sophistication that has become his trademark,
Chalabi also forged ties with the hawkish wing of Washington's pro-Israel
lobby, impressing them with his vision of a democratic government in Iraq
at peace with its neighbors. But the INC ran into more problems with the
State Department over accounting for its aid money, problems that have
since been ironed out.

Unique among exile leaders, Chalabi was airlifted by the U.S. military 
into
southern Iraq midway through the invasion, along with his 700-member
Free Iraqi Forces.

"They came to us," INC adviser Zaab Sethna said of the Americans.
"They needed an Iraqi element in the [military] campaign." While
temporarily based in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, Chalabi began 
to
distance himself from his patrons by demanding that the U.S.-led 
coalition
move more quickly to restore services and deliver relief supplies. "Where
is Jay Garner?" he asked in a CNN interview, referring to the U.S. 
civilian
administrator, then based in Kuwait.

After Iraqi resistance in Baghdad collapsed, Chalabi, his aides and about
a dozen bodyguards set out quickly for the capital - without the approval
of U.S. military authorities, Sethna said. They convinced managers of the
social club that it would be safer from looters if Chalabi and his men
moved in, Sethna said.

 From his new base, Chalabi has sent his Free Iraqi Forces on a hunt for
evidence about Hussein's regime, scooping up documents in houses
abandoned by fleeing Baath Party leaders and top officials of the 
security
establishment. They stumbled upon one trove when Chalabi went to
check out a house that had belonged to his sister before it was taken 
over
by the Iraqi secret police.

In an interview from Baghdad, Sethna said the documents now total 60
tons and are being reviewed by U.S. authorities at secret locations for
intelligence on Hussein's security services and the Baath Party.

But after perusing some of the documents, Chalabi has also come up with
ammunition against perceived adversaries in the news media and abroad.
He said in an interview on Abu Dhabi television that journalists for 
rival
channel Al-Jazeera had been infiltrated by Iraqi agents. He told
Newsweek that the files may contain incriminating information about the
Jordanian royal family, saying King Abdullah II is "worried about what
might come out."

The charge roiled an already-tense relationship between Chalabi and
Jordan, where officials describe the exile leader as a fugitive from 
justice
and a divisive figure.

While helping U.S. forces search for Hussein and other top members of
the regime, Chalabi has also set out to confound the skeptics who suspect
him of being a U.S. puppet and those, including some officials in the 
State
Department, who feel he will be unable to build support inside the 
country
and have criticized his ability to unite Iraqi opposition factions.

He has championed Iraqis who want to see a "de-Baathification" of Iraqi
institutions and criticized U.S. officials who have encouraged Baath 
Party
members to return to work to jump-start the Iraqi government and 
services.

"We don't have civil or governmental authority, but we can push ORHA,"
said Sethna, referring to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian
Assistance. For instance, the INC relayed information from Iraqi 
electrical
workers that the problem with the power supply was not the electrical
plants but downed power lines.

Meanwhile, Chalabi is "trying to build tribal and Shia links," said Glen
Rangwala, a Middle East specialist at Cambridge University.

Randy Scheunemann, a former foreign affairs adviser to Lott who now
runs the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, said doubts about Chalabi
in Washington stem from an entrenched belief among Arab-world
specialists in the CIA and State Department that democracy can't succeed 
there.

"They argue against democracy. Their careers are vested in 'stability,'"
Scheunemann said.

Amid the sudden blossoming of new and revived political movements in
Iraq, analysts are wary of assessing Chalabi's chances of establishing
himself as a durable political force.

Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research
Service, said that "many experts see his [political] base as the U.S. 
military."

"As the U.S. military draws down, the ballast under Chalabi would appear
to erode," Katzman said. By contrast, Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed
Bakr al-Hakim, who crossed into Iraq from his long exile in Iran this 
past
weekend, "has a true power base that one can see and measure. It's
visible and it's going to be there."

The INC's Sethna counters: "We have the best philosophy - pluralism,
democracy, rule of law, and civil and political rights." Chalabi has
declared he doesn't want to be prime minister or even to lead a
transitional government, but, Sethna said, "If it emerges that he is a 
pivotal
figure, that there is something he can do in pulling people together, 
and his
presence in some job is necessary, I think he will do it."

----

12) Chalabi well placed for Iraq power despite controversies
AFP
May 14, 2003

BAGHDAD (AFP) - One of the men who could be Iraq (news - web
sites)'s next leader, Ahmad Chalabi, has the strong US backing that could
leave him well placed for political power but remains a controversial 
figure for
many Iraqis.

The leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) has recently let fly 
with a series of grave
accusations against neighbouring Jordan,where he was convicted in 
absentia more than
a decade ago for fraud and embezzlement.

Despite holding a seat on the US-anointed council which is preparing a 
national congress
to select a new Iraqi government, he remains an unknown quantity for 
many after only recently
returning after 45 years of exile.

"Many dislike him," said an official from the Office of Reconstruction 
and Humanitarian
Assistance (ORHA), the Pentagon run entity which is overseeing the 
rebuilding of post-war Iraq.

"But at the same time, they cannot come up with any other name," said 
the official, who
asked not to be identified.

Chalabi has long occupied pride of place among the former opponents of 
Saddam Hussein
preparing a new Iraq, and his INC umbrella group has won strong support 
from the United States.

The INC's militia, the Free Iraqi Forces (FIF), was established in the 
run-up
to the war by the Pentagon and includes volunteers from around the world.

But the INC has been keen to allay the image of being a tool in the 
hands of
the Pentagon, and describes its relations with the United States as an
alliance that has its own occasional problems.

"The United States is our ally and as an ally sometimes we have 
differences
and sometimes we have agreements. In fact we can describe ourselves as
difficult allies sometimes," said INC spokesman Entifadh Qanbar.

The group has undertaken a campaign to clear Chalabi's past in Jordan,
where he was sentenced to 22 years hard labour in 1992 after being tried 
in
absentia over the disappearance of 60 million dollars from the Petra 
Bank,
which he set up in 1977 and which crashed in 1989.

The group blames a conspiracy between the Jordanian royal family and the
ousted Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

On Tuesday, the INC accused Jordan of channelling 450 million dollars to
Saddam's intelligence services before the US-led war began on March 20.

A Chalabi advisor, Zaab Sethna, charged that the money went through the
Jordan National Bank, owned by the family of Jordanian Foreign Minister
Marwan Moasher.

Meanwhile US magazine Newsweek this month published an interview with
Chalabi in which he claimed to have taken possession of 25 tons of
documents from Saddam's secret police.

"It's a huge thing. Some of the files are very damning," Chalabi told
Newsweek in an interview, implying that some of the most incriminating
material concerned Jordan's King Abdullah II.

The monarch, who has ruled Jordan since 1999, "is worried about his
relationship with Saddam. He's worried about what might come out," 
Chalabi
told Newsweek, although he failed to provide further details.

One of the main disputes between his INC and the United States is the 
role
of former members of Saddam's Baath party in the new, post-war Iraq.

The INC has openly criticised the US appointment of Baath members at
some relaunched government ministries, a move being undertaken by the
coalition to speed up the rebuilding process.

"The formal policy of the United States of America is de-Baathification 
of
Iraq. That some Baathists returned to high position is not acceptable," 
said Qanbar.

One Iraqi commentator said the INC effort to distance itself from the
United States was also intended to keep the group from having to
shoulder any of the blame aimed at the US coalition over the chaos that
has reigned in post-war Iraq.

"The population blames the lack of security, electricity, cooking gas and
gasoline on the Americans," said the commentator, who asked not to be
named. "And that's not good for Chalabi," he said.

----

Former Iraqi General Khazraji in Iraq, Son Says
Tehran Times
May 21, 2003

COPENHAGEN -- A former Iraqi Army chief who in March
escaped house arrest in Denmark where he was suspected of
committing war crimes is in Iraq and is politically active, his son
told Danish daily Politiken on Tuesday.

Nizar al-Khazraji, a former head of the Iraqi Armed Forces, fled
Denmark on March 17, reportedly with the help of the CIA. He
had been under house arrest in Denmark since November 2002
on charges of taking part in chemical weapon attacks on Iraqi
Kurds in the 1980s.

"We have learned that he is in Iraq, that he is doing well, and that
he is involved in political work," his son Ahmed said as carried by AFP.

He said he had not spoken directly with his father, but that he
had received the information from people he trusted.

"When he wants to speak to us, he will contact us. Now we are
happy to know he is alive," Ahmed said, denying rumors that
Khazraji was killed in Basra at the end of the Iraq war.

The general was head of the Iraqi Armed Forces during the
invasion of Kuwait in 1990 but fled to Jordan in 1995. He
received political asylum in Denmark in 1999.

Danish newspaper BT said on March 22 that Khazraji, believed
to be the highest ranking officer to have defected from Iraq and
touted by U.S. media as a possible successor to ousted Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein, had escaped with the help of the CIA.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last week
however that the United States was not planning to give Khazraji
a role in the new interim administration in Baghdad.

Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen, who came under fire
from the opposition for Khazraji's disappearance, has on two
occasions written to U.S. authorities asking for any information
on his disappearance and whereabouts.

She has yet to receive a response.

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