NewsHour Extra: Iraq Forms Temporary Government -- June 2, 2004

Iraq Forms Temporary Government, 06/02/04
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan_june04/iraq_6-02.html

The final members of an interim government that hopes to bring democracy to Iraq were announced on Tuesday. The government, which takes power on June 30, is in charge of organizing and holding elections by January 2005.

Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab businessman, was named interim Iraqi president on Tuesday, completing the selection of top government officials who will work toward Iraq's first postwar elections in January.

United Nations envoy in Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi, who oversaw the formation of the 33-member interim government, also announced the names of two Iraqis who will serve as vice presidents -- Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite from Iraq's powerful Dawa Party, and Rowsch Shaways of the Kurdish Democratic Party.

After the announcement in Iraq, President Bush praised the interim government, saying it represented a broad cross section of society and had the "talent" to lead the country. But he said the placement of the temporary government might be met with increased, rather than decreased, violence.

"There's still violent people who want to stop progress," the president told reporters at the White House. "Their strategy hasn't changed. They want to kill innocent lives and shake our will."

President Bush said the installment of the interim government sends "a clear signal that terrorists can't win."

Who is al-Yawer?

Arab League Secretary-general Amr Moussa Tuesday described al-Yawer, a civil engineer and tribal leader from the northern town of Mosul, as "an outstanding and well-known man with a positive history," Reuters reported.

His appointment helped break a deadlock between U.S. officials who wanted a leader who would support U.S. interests in Iraq and Iraqis whose aim is to establish full sovereignty, or full control over their own country without the U.S. making the decisions.

Al-Yawer, a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, has been a critic of the ongoing U.S. occupation in Iraq. Last week he criticized a proposed U.N. resolution that would allow the United States to retain some power over Iraq even after the new government takes over. He said the resolution gives Iraqis only limited control over the American troops that will remain in Iraq after the transfer of sovereignty.

"We the Iraqis look forward to being granted full sovereignty through a Security Council resolution to enable us to rebuild a free, independent, democratic and federal unified homeland," he said at a news conference, according to The New York Times.

Al-Yawer was the second choice to lead the interim Iraqi government. Brahimi's first choice for interim president and the Bush administration's favored candidate, veteran Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, turned down the post following protests from the Iraqi Governing Council who claimed he was handpicked by the United States.

What next?

The transitional government will assume power on June 30 and will be responsible for writing a new constitution and holding elections to bring in a democratically elected president and permanent governing body. It will replace the U.S.- appointed Iraqi Governing Council, the group in charge of creating a new system of government in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The council dissolved itself earlier than expected on Tuesday after the presentation of the new officials to make way for the new government, the Associated Press reported.

The interim government already has begun its work; newly chosen Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was reportedly on his way to New York Tuesday to lobby the United Nations for full sovereignty.

-- Online NewsHour