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Concerns over US transfer plan for iraq { May 25 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5046836/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5046836/
Concerns over U.S. transfer plan for Iraq
Iraqi council, France among those seeking revisions at U.N.
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 12:33 p.m. ET May 25, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S.-British blueprint for Iraq now before the U.N. Security Council was met Tuesday with concerns from other governments and even the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, whose chairman said the proposal fell short by not granting greater control over Iraq's own security forces.
"We found it less than our expectations," Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told reporters after a meeting of the council. "We as Iraqis see the necessity of the presence of (outside) forces," he added. "But in the period to come we want to have the right to ask that these forces leave."
And France was among the countries urging revisions to the proposal, which would provide the framework for an interim Iraqi government being sworn in on June 30.
"This draft ... contains positive aspects as well as others on which discussions should be continued so that the resolution helps open up a clear political horizon in Iraq," President Jacques Chirac's office quoted him as having told President Bush in a phone conversation Tuesday.
Chirac "reiterated his conviction that the transfer of sovereignty must be real and perceived as such by the Iraqis themselves Ñ the date of June 30 must mark a real change," his office said in a statement.
Bush, for his part, said after the conversation that "what President Chirac and others have said is they want to make sure that the transfer of sovereignty to the interim government is a real transfer and that's what we want."
"We want there to be a complete and real transfer of sovereignty so that the Iraqi citizens realize the fate of their country is now their responsibility," he told reporters at the White House.
Control of security, oil revenue
In Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council issued a statement saying it wanted to discuss full Iraqi control of "the activities of the Iraqi armed forces and security forces," as well as over oil reserves and the Iraqi Development Fund, established last year by the United States to use oil revenues to pay for reconstruction.
Al-Yawer said Iraqis should control revenue from oil sales, which Washington proposes should remain subject to international audit.
Council member Ahmad Chalabi went further, saying the draft resolution "will fail the test for Iraqi sovereignty... One of the foundations of sovereignty is that the Iraqi government must control the armed forces regarding recruitment, supplies or movements."
Iraq's defense minister, Ali Allawi, said he expects Iraq's security forces to be ready to replace foreign soldiers within a year.
"The timing of a presence of a multinational force, it is a question of months rather than years," Allawi said in London at a news conference with British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon. "The multinational force will need to be replaced by an indigenous force, an Iraqi force, in the course of a year."
He said an Iraqi security force should be in place "by and large" before national elections set for January.
Foreign soldiers immune from courts?
Another council member, Mahmoud Othman, said Iraqis were frustrated by the absence of Iraqi input in the drafting of the joint U.N. resolution and that Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari would travel to New York to raise Iraqi concerns to Security Council ambassadors.
Othman said the Governing Council also objected to provisions making U.S., British and other foreign soldiers immune from prosecution under Iraqi law.
"They would not be locally accountable when they do anything wrong," he said.
The introduction of a draft U.N. resolution Monday set the stage for intense negotiations with longtime critics of the war, such as France and Germany, who are demanding that Iraq's interim government be the key decision-maker on security issues.
The United States and Britain unveiled the long-awaited plan hours before President Bush said in a nationally televised address that American forces would stay in Iraq until it was free and democratic.
Question of sovereignty
Under the resolution, the multinational force would be authorized to take "all necessary measures" to maintain security and prevent terrorism, while no mention was made of the Iraqi army Ñ except the need for training.
The mandate for U.S.-led forces in Iraq would be reviewed after a year Ñ or even earlier if a transitional government due to take power after January elections requests it. But U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said the United States will keep its promise "that we will leave if there's a request from the government to leave," which he called highly unlikely.
Security Council members said one of the major concerns raised during closed-door discussions was the question of whether sovereignty is really being restored Ñ or whether the occupation would continue under another guise.
Many in Iraq and in Europe fear that the interim government will not be seen as legitimate if it doesn't have a credible voice in the operations of armed forces on its own soil.
The resolution is an attempt by the Bush administration to win international backing for the post-occupation plans in Iraq, which have been severely shaken by violence. With his approval ratings sinking after repeated setbacks in Iraq, Bush is also seeking to rebuild support at home.
Coordination of multinational force unclear
With the June 30 transfer of sovereignty looming, Washington and London decided to start negotiations on the 2,400-word resolution, even though U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is still working on the makeup of the interim government. Key areas of the text will need to be filled in after Brahimi returns and the interim government is established Ñ including how it will coordinate with the multinational military force.
U.S. and British officials said once the government is formed, the multinational force commander is expected to send a letter spelling out how the force will relate to the interim government. The new Iraqi leadership is also expected to send a letter welcoming the Security Council resolution and U.N. help in the political process, and agreeing that the multinational force should remain in Iraq, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the interim government would have veto power over major military operations Ñ like April's offensive in Fallujah that outraged many Iraqis.
"If there's a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Fallujah in a particular way, that has to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government and the final political control remains with the Iraqi government. That's what the transfer of sovereignty means," he told reporters.
Othman, a Sunni Kurd member of the Governing Council, said the multinational forces should be under United Nations' command Ñ a possibility ruled out by the Americans and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"If that is not possible, then the Iraqi side must play an important role," Othman told the Arab television station Al-Jazeera. "Why cannot we have a joint command, Iraqi-American? Why only American? ... This is important to Iraqis."
Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger called the draft "a good basis of discussion" and said "we will have to make sure that this process provides Iraqi ownership for the political process as well as for the process of economic reconstruction."
Algeria's U.N. ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only Arab representative on the Security Council, called the text "a good basis for negotiations."
In Moscow, a foreign ministry spokesman Russia said the proposal "leaves Russia and other members of the Security Council asking many questions and needs further work."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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