Iraqis Chafe at U.S. Block on Choice of President

Deadlock set in Sunday after a prime minister and key cabinet posts were broadly agreed to, prompting U.S. officials to ask the Iraqi Governing Council to put off until Tuesday further talks on filling the largely ceremonial post of head of state.

The U.S.-appointed Council favors its present leader, Ghazi Yawar, a prominent tribal leader with support from various ethnic and religious groups. Council members said U.S. governor Paul Bremer and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi were pressuring them to back Adnan Pachachi, an 81-year-old former foreign minister.

“There’s quite a lot of interference. They should let the Iraqis decide for themselves. This is an Iraqi affair,” Mahmoud Othman, a Kurd on the 22-member Council, told Reuters.

If the position is largely ceremonial, why start a fight with the Governing Council? It makes little sense.

One Response to “Is This Worth the Ill-Will?”

1. Rob M Says:
   May 31st, 2024 at 11:47 am

   If we fight it and then give in, it would give “street cred” to the new government.

   Kind of the same way that Gore makes Kerry look like a moderate.

   Or Tom Delay makes most every Republican look like a centrist.