Council hopes to see international support

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The Iraqi Governing Council and the United States are not at odds over the timing of the transfer of power in Iraq, members of the Governing Council said September 24.

Ahmad Chalabi, current president of the council, said, "We have no disagreement with the United States government. We are not at odds with the United States. We are grateful to President Bush and we are working with the United States to achieve our common objective of a democratic, pluralist constitution for Iraq which will be approved by referendum."

Chalabi, who is president of the council for September; Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister; and Adnan Pachachi, governing council leadership member, are at the United Nations attending the start of the 58th General Assembly. They were in Iraq's seat in the assembly hall September 23 when President Bush spoke on the opening day. Akila Al Hashimi was to be a member of the delegation, but she had remained in Baghdad after being wounded in an assassination attempt September 20. [Hashimi died September 25.]

"Iraq has assumed its rightful place in the United Nations as it has done in the Arab League and in OPEC and in the International Monetary Fund and in the World Bank," Chalabi said. "Iraq is a founding member of each one of these organizations and it is now clear that Iraq through the Governing Council has assumed its rightful place in each one of them."

"This is a victory for the Iraqi people and for the process of freedom and democracy in Iraq," he said.

"We were proud to be present in the General Assembly yesterday when President Bush gave his speech. There is nothing in his speech that we disagree with. We share the common objective of having a free, democratic Iraq in the international community," Chalabi said.

In his speech President Bush called for economic assistance and an orderly transition to self-government for Iraq. "All nations of good will should step forward and provide ... support," he said.

"The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic means. This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis -- neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties," Bush said.

At a press conference September 24 the Governing Council members talked about the issue of when power should be transferred to Iraqis -- one of the key points being debated in talks on a new resolution in the Security Council, and the role of the United Nations in Iraq.

The council members were optimistic about the progress the country can make over the next several months, but acknowledged that the security situation holds the key to progress. The August terrorist attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad has slowed progress, they said.

Nevertheless, Chalabi characterized the situation in Iraq as "fraught with hope."

Zebari said that "there is no difference whatsoever between the views of the Governing Council and the United States or the coalition on how we should proceed and move forward. There has been a great deal of confusion recently as if we are opposed to each other on how to move forward. No."

U.S. officials say that the draft Security Council resolution proposed by the United States would invite the Governing Council to provide a timetable for a constitution and elections.

The Governing Council "will be able to provide such a timetable," Pachachi said. "But it depends largely how long it takes us to draft a constitution."

The council member said that a preparatory commission has already been appointed to look into holding a constitutional convention. They expect that convention could get under way as early as October and a new constitution could be ready to present to the Iraqi people in about eight months.

But other things have to be done as well, Pachachi said. There has to be an electoral law, population census, voter registration. And there has to be an "overhaul of the judicial system so it can guarantee an honest election, regulate the formation of political parties, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly," he said.

"You should also give the people time to discuss the constitutional issues in town meetings and other meetings. All this will take some time," Pachachi said.

"We have to be realistic," Zebari said. "A great deal depends on the security environment, but we hope we can accomplish this within a year."

The delegation met with Secretary General Kofi Annan and urged him not to scale back operations in Iraq.

"The U.N. can play a very important role in Iraq in many ways: in organizing voter registration, elections, an international monitoring system. Also the U.N. can coordinate activities of a number of U.N. agencies that still have not finished -- humanitarian aid and assistance," Zebari said.

Most importantly, the United Nations "will legitimize the situation," he said. "As an international organization, to be there and to work on this issue will be very, very critical."

Zebari said "Our view is that the U.N. has an important role to play in Iraq. The message we tried to convey was: Please don't pull out; don't scale down the U.N. operation. The 19th of August attack was intended, generally and specifically, to drive the U.N. out of Iraq."

After the attack, "the operation was scaled down and, in our view, the terrorists were encouraged to come again and try to attack the same target," the foreign minister said, referring to a car bomb at a checkpoint near the U.N. headquarters earlier in the week.

"Definitely [the U.N.] should stay the course and help us," he said, "although nobody wants to underestimate the difficulties of the security and the threats against all of us."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)