|
'The Americans are not stupid'
01/06/2004 09:13 - (SA)
Baghdad - The US-led coalition threw a dark horse candidate into the race for Iraq's new president as US troops agreed to suspend patrols in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in a bid to prop up a shaky truce, officials said.
In Baghdad, a car bomb killed at least four people and wounded dozens more on Monday, underlining fears of a surge in bloodshed with just 30 days before the end of the US-led occupation.
Amid the bloodshed, the coalition put off until Tuesday a scheduled meeting to decide Iraq's first president in the post-Saddam Hussein era amid a fierce political struggle with Iraq's Governing Council.
A senior coalition official said the two main Sunni Muslim contenders, Adnan Pachachi and Ghazi al-Yawar, had been ruled out for the largely ceremonial post.
"It is completely fabricated that it is a toss-up between Yawar and Pachachi," said the official.
"We are looking for the president and two thirds of the new ministers to be non-Governing Council members."
The Governing Council backs Yawar for the Sunni Muslim ceremonial head of state. US overseer Paul Bremer and UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi endorse Pachachi.
One council source suggested that Saad al-Janabi, a close associate of relatives of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein with Republican Party and CIA connections, was being considered as a third possible candidate.
With security a prime problem facing the interim government, Janabi comes from a tribe with connections in the troubled city of Fallujah and Al-Anbar province, one of the most violent areas during the US-led occupation.
The offices of Pachachi and Yawar said they knew nothing about the report. Neither did Governing Council spokesman Hamid al-Kifaey.
"I am not aware of any candidate other than Adnan Pachachi and Ghazi al-Yawar. I know that anyone can stand and apply for the job of president. But as of yet, there has been nobody," he said.
Asked about a possible third candidate earlier, a UN spokesman said it "would not be helpful" to comment on the process while it was still ongoing.
Some participants in the discussions believe the coalition is determined to distance the incoming interim government from the council, which has failed to command grassroots Iraqi support.
"The Americans are not stupid. They want to avoid the future cabinet being linked to the old executive at all costs," one source close to the talks said.
Talks on the formation of an interim government are taking place against a backdrop of continuing violence despite efforts to secure a truce between coalition forces and the militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
About 20 militiamen, two US soldiers and an Iraqi mother were killed in overnight fighting near the Shiite city of Kufa as clashes flared again in breach of a five-day-old truce.
Three of the Iraqi mother's four children were wounded when the family home was destroyed, according to an AFP photographer.
- AFP
|
News
