Iraq Council Picks 9 Leaders Instead of 1

By Robyn Dixon

July 30, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD — In a sign of the deep divisions in Iraq’s new temporary governing council, its members were unable Tuesday to choose a single leader to help run the country, opting instead for a nine-person presidency.

The decision raised new questions about the effectiveness of the council, whose credibility was already in question for many Iraqis because its members were appointed by U.S. officials rather than popularly elected.

The council, which met for the first time July 13, spent the last two days arguing about how it would operate and who would lead it. After seven hours of talks Tuesday, the nine-member presidency was announced in a brief statement that contained few other details.

Wary of giving any group on the council authority over any other, the members decided to sharply curtail presidential powers, limiting these to minor administrative tasks and chairing council meetings and excluding decision making. The role will rotate among the nine members of the presidency, perhaps as frequently as once a month.

Many Iraqis are watching the council closely in the belief that its level of efficiency and its degree of independence from U.S. officials will influence how quickly Iraq can progress to independent governance. The council has the power to appoint interim ministers, help draft the budget and set policies, but final jurisdiction rests with the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Iraq is deeply divided along political, ethnic and religious lines, and the 25-member council, while representing the many groups, must reach agreement on the contentious day-to-day issues involved in governing the country.

Songul Chapouk, an engineer and teacher and one of the three women on the council, said Tuesday night that she and some other members argued for appointing a single president. She was angered that no women are among the nine leaders, maintaining that one prominent member pushed the names through. “It was dictatorship, not democracy,” she said.

“I was opposed, because I represent women and there must be a voice of women,” Chapouk said. At one point, she recounted, the group almost settled on 14 leaders.

“I said we must have one leader,” she said. “With nine leaders, what are we going to do? This council needs one leader and two deputies.”

According to Chapouk, the council had serious problems reaching agreement on anything.

“There were many, many arguments,” she said. “To reach one position they sit for six hours, seven hours. This is not good for us. We must take decisions quickly because people in Iraq want us to do things.”

Political analyst Wamidh Nadhmi, professor of political science at Baghdad University, said the decision highlights the divisions in the council and raises the question of how long the alliance of seven political parties that backed the council’s formation would survive.

The fear is that the council will end up squabbling over every issue, he said.

“They will fight for a share in everything. They’ll fight for shares in positions and for shares in higher positions. They fight for shares in the new diplomatic corps, shares in dividing the money among the tribes, shares in the army, shares in the police.

“Their failure in bringing nine leaders,” Nadhmi added, “is an indication that although the Americans were capable of bringing these people together ... their divergence is much greater than their unity.”

He said that in just over two weeks, the council had made no substantial decisions except to name April 9, the day Baghdad fell to U.S. troops, a holiday. He called that decision, which upset many Iraqis, “shameful.”

The professor believes that the declaration by some members that they could resist pressure from U.S. civil administrator L. Paul Bremer III by sticking together is highly questionable.

“They preach this logic,” he said. “They’re saying we are going to stay solid and regain Iraqi independence. Now they are showing complete disunity.”

Ali Abdul Ameer, spokesman for the Iraqi National Accord, which is represented on the council by Iyad Allawi, said the leadership would rotate monthly among the nine leaders. A spokesman for another party told Reuters that it could be one month or two, with the final details still to be decided.

Ameer said they were chosen “because those nine are qualified to do this task.” He denied that there were deep divisions on the council.

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Iraq’s Presidential Panel

From Associated Press

The nine members who were named to the presidential panel of Iraq’s governing council:

* Ahmad Chalabi: Shiite Muslim; leader of the Iraqi National Congress.

* Abdelaziz Hakim: Shiite; leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

* Jalal Talabani: Sunni Muslim; leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

* Massoud Barzani: Sunni; leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

* Ibrahim Jafari: Shiite; spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party.

* Iyad Allawi: Shiite; secretary-general of the Iraqi National Accord.

* Mohsen Abdel Hamid: Sunni; secretary-general of the Iraqi Islamic Party.