U.S. Governor of Iraq Sees Elections by Mid-2004
 

Thu July 31, 2003 05:13 AM ET

By Miral Fahmy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. administrator running Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Thursday that general elections to set up a democratic government could happen as early as mid- 2004, ending the American occupation.

Speaking at a ceremony to reopen Iraq's Foreign Ministry -- which was looted and gutted by fire after the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein -- Bremer told officials that they should expect an Iraqi government to be in place next year.

"Your ministry is back at work... and gradually it will move to diplomacy. I know your work will expand as the steps we are putting in place to establish an Iraqi government progress," he said, standing beneath a shattered chandelier.

"It is not unrealistic to think we could possibly have general elections by mid-2004 and that is when our work here will be done."

Bremer says the U.S.-led force occupying Iraq will leave as soon as a new democratic Iraqi government is established.

The presence of U.S. forces is widely resented and they have been coming under almost daily attack. A U.S. soldier was killed late on Wednesday, bringing to 51 the number of U.S. troops killed in attacks since major combat was declared over on May 1.

Earlier this month, Bremer's administration appointed a Governing Council of 25 Iraqis which Washington sees as the first step on the road toward self-rule. The members are drawn from Iraq's various religious, ethnic and political factions.

The Council took more than two weeks to complete one of its first tasks -- picking a leader -- and eventually settled on a compromise in which the presidency rotates among nine council members who will each hold it for a month at a time. Council members deny that was a sign of divisions and indecisiveness.

Among the Council's tasks are naming ministers to work alongside U.S. officials, and overseeing the writing of a new constitution. Once the constitution is ready, Washington says, elections will be held for a government to take over from the U.S.-led administration.

LIMITED SERVICE

Bremer said at the ceremony that apart from limited consular services, the Foreign Ministry would resume its work only after a new Iraqi government had been elected.

The ministry's three building-complex was looted and burned after the war that toppled Saddam in April.

Since then, its 912 staff have been temporarily based in the former Protocol building while U.S. and Turkish aid organizations repair the damage. The main building is expected to be finished in April 2004.

An additional 214 Iraqi foreign ministry employees are based in defunct embassies around the world but U.S. officials would not say what their role would be or whether there were plans to bring them back to Iraq.

To mark the inauguration, workers had swathed plastic sheeting over some of the charred floors. Birds nested in the broken stained-glass dome on top of the atrium and a once splendid fountain lay rusting and disused.

Under Saddam, most of the ministry's staff were either members of his once-powerful Baath Party or the dreaded intelligence services. The U.S. authorities sacked 455 of these employees under its "de-Baathification program."

"During the past immoral regime, this building was a den for oppression and tyranny," Governing Council member Mohammed Bahr al-Uloom, a Shi'ite cleric, told the gathering.

"It sullied the reputation of our country but today we are awakening to a new dawn and we hope that today's diplomatic cadres will represent a new, civilised Iraq around the world."



Oh, I see democracy floating into Iraq :roll: It's gonna work brilliantly!!! (note the sarcasm)