[casi] News, 9-16/7/03 (2)

[Peter Brooke <pbrooke@DELETETHISukonline.co.uk>]

News, 9-16/7/03 (2)

RESTORING DEMOCRACY

*  'No real planning for postwar Iraq'
*  Iraqi tribes prepare for political role
*  Chaldean Groups Protest Lack of Chaldean Representation in Iraqi Ruling
Council
*  What Iraq Needs Now
*  A Look at Iraq's Governing Council
*  Chaldean Groups Protest Lack of Chaldean Representation in Iraqi Ruling
Council
*  Iraqi interim administration divided at birth
*  Long-oppressed Turkmen demand a say in future of Iraq
*   Iraq to form war crimes court

RESTORATION OF CULTURE

*  City High graduate launches English publication in Baghdad
*  Ashur added to World Heritage List
*  U.S. arrests Iraqi newspaper editor in Chicago
*  Editorials from the New Iraqi Press


RESTORING DEMOCRACY

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/6285262.htm

*  'NO REAL PLANNING FOR POSTWAR IRAQ'
by Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers, 11th July

[.....]

Ultimately, however, the responsibility for ensuring that post-Saddam
planning anticipated all possible complications lay with Secretary of
Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza
Rice, current and former officials said.

The Pentagon planning group, directed by Undersecretary of Defense for
Policy Douglas J. Feith, the department's No. 3 official, included hard-line
conservatives who had long advocated using the American military to
overthrow Saddam. Its day-to-day boss was William Luti, a former Navy
officer who worked for Vice President Dick Cheney before joining the
Pentagon.

The Pentagon group insisted on doing it its way because it had a visionary
strategy that it hoped would transform Iraq into an ally of Israel, remove a
potential threat to the Persian Gulf oil trade and encircle Iran with U.S.
friends and allies. The problem was that officials at the State Department
and CIA thought the vision was badly flawed and impractical, so the Pentagon
planners simply excluded their rivals from involvement.

Feith, Luti and their advisers wanted to put Ahmad Chalabi - the
controversial Iraqi exile leader of a coalition of opposition groups - in
power in Baghdad. The Pentagon planners were convinced that Iraqis would
warmly welcome the American-led coalition and that Chalabi, who boasted of
having a secret network inside and outside the regime, and his supporters
would replace Saddam and impose order.

Feith, in a series of responses Friday to written questions, denied that the
Pentagon wanted to put Chalabi in charge. But Pentagon adviser Richard
Perle, who at the time was the chairman of the Defense Policy Board - an
influential group of outside advisers to the Pentagon - and is close to
Feith and Luti, acknowledged in an interview that installing Chalabi was the
plan.

Referring to the Chalabi scenario, Perle said: "The Department of Defense
proposed a plan that would have resulted in a substantial number of Iraqis
available to assist in the immediate postwar period." Had it been accepted,
"we'd be in much better shape today," he said.

Perle said blame for any planning failures belonged to the State Department
and other agencies that opposed the Chalabi route.

A senior administration official, who requested anonymity, said the Pentagon
officials were enamored of Chalabi because he advocated normal diplomatic
relations with Israel. They believed that would have "taken off the board"
one of the only remaining major Arab threats to Israeli security.

Moreover, Chalabi was key to containing the influence of Iran's radical
Islamic leaders in the region, because he would have provided bases in Iraq
for U.S. troops. That would complete Iran's encirclement by American
military forces around the Persian Gulf and U.S. friends in Russia and
Central Asia, he said.

But the failure to consult more widely on what to do if the Chalabi scenario
failed denied American planners the benefits of a vast reservoir of
expertise gained from peacekeeping and reconstruction in shattered nations
from Bosnia to East Timor.

As one example, the Pentagon planners ignored an eight-month-long effort led
by the State Department to prepare for the day when Saddam's dictatorship
was gone. The "Future of Iraq" project, which involved dozens of exiled
Iraqi professionals and 17 U.S. agencies, including the Pentagon, prepared
strategies for everything from drawing up a new Iraqi judicial code to
restoring the unique ecosystem of Iraq's southern marshes, which Saddam's
regime had drained.

Virtually none of the "Future of Iraq" project's work was used once Saddam
fell.

The first U.S. administrator in Iraq, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, wanted
the Future of Iraq project director, Tom Warrick, to join his staff in
Baghdad. Warrick had begun packing his bags, but Pentagon civilians vetoed
his appointment, said one current and one former official.

Meanwhile, postwar planning documents from the State Department, CIA and
elsewhere were "simply disappearing down the black hole" at the Pentagon,
said a former U.S. official with long Middle East experience who recently
returned from Iraq.

Archaeological experts who were worried about protecting Iraq's immense
cultural treasures were rebuffed in their requests for meetings before the
war. After it, Iraq's museum treasures were looted.

Responsibility for preparing for post-Saddam Iraq lay with senior officials
who supervised the Office of Special Plans, a highly secretive group of
analysts and consultants in the Pentagon's Near East/South Asia bureau. The
office was physically isolated from the rest of the bureau.

Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who retired from the Near East bureau
on July 1, said she and her colleagues were allowed little contact with the
Office of Special Plans and often were told by the officials who ran it to
ignore the State Department's concerns and views.

"We almost disemboweled State," Kwiatkowski said.

Senior State Department and White House officials verified her account and
cited many instances where officials from other agencies were excluded from
meetings or decisions.

The Chalabi plan, fiercely opposed by the CIA and the State Department, ran
into major problems.

President Bush, after meeting with Iraqi exiles in January, told aides that,
while he admired the Iraqi exiles, they wouldn't be rewarded with power in
Baghdad. "The future of this country . . . is not going to be charted by
people who sat out the sonofabitch (Saddam) in London or Cambridge,
Massachusetts," one former senior White House official quoted Bush as
saying.

After that, the White House quashed the Pentagon's plan to create - before
the war started - an Iraqi-government-in-exile that included Chalabi.

The Chalabi scheme was dealt another major blow in February, a month before
the war started, when U.S. intelligence agencies monitored him conferring
with hard-line Islamic leaders in Tehran, Iran, a State Department official
said. About the same time, an Iraqi Shiite militia that was based in Iran
and known as the Badr Brigade began moving into northern Iraq, setting off
alarm bells in Washington.

At the State Department, officials drafted a memo, titled "The Perfect
Storm," warning of a confluence of catastrophic developments that would
endanger the goals of the coming U.S. invasion.

Cheney, once a strong Chalabi backer, ordered the Pentagon to curb its
support for the exiles, the official said.

Yet Chalabi continued to receive Pentagon assistance, including backing for
a 700-man paramilitary unit. The U.S. military flew Chalabi and his men at
the height of the war from the safety of northern Iraq, which was outside
Saddam's control, to an air base outside the southern city of Nasiriyah in
expectation that he would soon take power.

Chalabi settled into a former hunting club in the fashionable Mansour
section of Baghdad. He was joined by Harold Rhode, a top Feith aide, said
the former U.S. official who recently returned from Iraq.

But Chalabi lacked popular support - graffiti in Iraq referred to "Ahmad the
Thief" - and anti-American anger was growing over the looting and anarchy
that followed Saddam's ouster.

"It was very clear that there was an expectation that the exiles would be
the core of an Iraqi interim (governing) authority," retired U.S. Ambassador
Timothy Carney said. He was in Iraq in April to help with postwar
reconstruction.

Once Saddam's regime fell, American authorities "quickly grasped" that
Chalabi and his people couldn't take charge, Carney said.

However, the Pentagon had devised no backup plan. Numerous officials in
positions to know said that if Pentagon civilians had a detailed plan that
anticipated what could happen after Saddam fell, it was invisible to them.

Garner's team didn't even have such basics as working cell phones and
adequate transportation. And Garner was replaced in May - much earlier than
planned - by L. Paul Bremer.

[.....]

For example, the government of Turkey, which borders Iraq to the north and
was being asked by Washington to allow 60,000 American troops to invade Iraq
from its soil, peppered the U.S. government with 51 questions about postwar
plans.

The reply came in a cable Feb. 5, more than 10 pages long, from the State
Department. Largely drafted by the Pentagon, it answered many of Ankara's
queries, but on some questions, including the structure of the postwar
government in Iraq, the cable affirmed that "no decision has been made," a
senior administration official said.

The response was "still in work, still in work . . . we're still working on
that," Kwiatkowski said. "Basically an empty answer."


RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT Vol. 6, No. 30, 11 July 2003

*  IRAQI TRIBES PREPARE FOR POLITICAL ROLE

The Iraqi Tribes Democratic Grouping gathered in Baghdad on 7 July to
address prospects for a future political role for Iraq's tribes, Al-Jazeera
reported the same day. The tribes are currently divided into nine groupings,
the satellite channel reported. "We call on the Iraqi national movement's
parties and factions to quickly form specialized committees and to craft an
ambitious Iraqi constitution, which must include the constitutional and
legal structure of the system, and to ensure the rights of all Iraqis,
regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliations," member Wa'il
al-Rikabi told the conferees. The tribes called on political parties to hold
an expanded conference in the near future and urged Iraqi citizens to not
resort to violence when seeking their rights, Al-Jazeera reported. (Kathleen
Ridolfo)


http://www.chaldeansonline.net/chaldeanews/cnc_cdu.html

*  CHALDEAN GROUPS PROTEST LACK OF CHALDEAN REPRESENTATION IN IRAQI RULING
COUNCIL
Chaldean National Congress Press release, 14th July

The Chaldean National Congress and the United Chaldean Democratic Party,
representing the Chaldean national movement, issued a joint press release
protesting strongly the lack of any Chaldean representative in the Iraqi
Ruling Council that was recently appointed by the American Civil Governor of
Iraq, Mr. Paul Bremer.

Following the joint press release of the two groups, Mr. Ghassan Hanna,
General Secretary of the Chaldean National Movement, promised a major
campaign inside and outside Iraq to protest that great injustice against the
Chaldeans. "We will allow no one to sidestep the Chaldean presence or claim
its representation, and we will work with all our power to get the Chaldean
voice heard till justice is done ".

Below is a copy of the complete press release:

Honorable Mr. Paul Bremer, Civil Governor on Iraq
Honorable Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Special Envoy to Iraq
Honorable Members of the Iraqi Ruling Council
Honorable Leaders of Iraqi Parties and Patriotic Personalities

We were looking forward for the creation of the Iraqi Ruling Council, and
we're extremely pleased for its birth which we consider as the first step on
the road to bringing life back to governmental agencies and organizations so
they could start servicing the Iraqi people. Also, so as that council could
bring back the much needed security and stability as well as establishing
the rule of law throughout Iraq.

We would also like to affirm our full respect and high regard for this
council and wish it all the success in its duty to serve our homeland and
people, especially, since it has among its members a number of highly
respected Iraqi personalities who are well known for their struggle against
the former regime.

Having said that, we on the other hand, would like to protest in the
strongest terms your complete disregard for the Chaldeans as demonstrated in
your failure to include their representatives in your council. That is
despite their honorable history in the service of Iraq and despite their
being the third largest Iraqi ethnic group, as well as despite their making
up more than 80% of Iraqi Christians i.e. being the absolute majority of
Christians.

Your clear failure to acknowledge our existence and refusal to add our
representatives to the council is a direct attack against the democratic
principles which you claim to follow. Those principles that advocate the
rule of the majority and its representation in the making of decisions, all
while taking into consideration the rights of the minority.

Hence, we strongly demand and in the name of justice, rectitude, and
democracy to add a Chaldean representative to your council as well as to all
future committees that will be created. Failure to do that will be
considered a clear violation and outright disregard for the democratic
principles that you claim to follow, as well as a clear breach of your own
public commitments in working towards the full representation of all the
components of the Iraqi population, including the Chaldeans.

Your clear disregard for the Chaldean existence is unjust and tyrannical
which we will not accept and strongly reject, especially, in a country which
you claim to work towards turning into a model of democracy in the area.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/09/opinion/09BARZ.html?th

*  WHAT IRAQ NEEDS NOW
by Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani
New York Times, 9th July

ERBIL, Iraq: Some day, we Iraqis hope to celebrate an Independence Day like
the one Americans have just observed. But for the near future we face the
challenge of translating liberation into democracy ‹ a goal we Kurds will
push for even more diligently now that we have agreed to join the interim
Iraqi administration that will be formed this month. To that end, we will
work closely with the United States to establish security, revive the
economy and build a democratic culture.

Our aims may appear optimistic with American and British forces struggling
to establish order and restore public services in some areas of Iraq. Yet
the picture is not quite as grim as some claim. The assaults on American
soldiers are not "resistance to foreign occupation." Rather, they are acts
of terrorism by the Baathist remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime. These
remnants are so reviled in Iraq that they have had to resort to foreign
volunteers, for few Iraqis will take up arms on their behalf.

Since they lack the support of the people, the Baathists will be defeated ‹
a process that can be accelerated if we establish a national security force.
That would be one major step toward making Iraq safer.

But another security problem, widespread looting, requires more than just
better policing. The looting has its roots in economic problems. Iraq's
economy is largely moribund. The wages paid by the coalition are often not
enough to make ends meet. Exporting oil will help, but what Iraq really
needs is comprehensive economic reforms to encourage investment. We applaud
the moves, announced this week by American officials, to create a new Iraqi
currency and restructure the central bank, as a welcome start to such
reforms.

One simple way to improve the economy in our part of Iraq, Kurdistan, is to
ensure that the Kurds receive the money allocated to them by the United
Nations oil-for-food program. It is a scandal that $4 billion destined for
the Kurds sits, unused, in a United Nations-controlled French bank account
because of past obstruction by Saddam Hussein and the present incompetence
of the United Nations bureaucracy. The delays by the United Nations are
particularly frustrating because of rules that require the money to go into
a general Iraqi development fund if it isn't spent by October. We have
repeatedly sought assurances from the coalition that this money will not be
lost to Iraqi Kurdistan. So far, the coalition response has been unclear.

Let us be clear, however. We are not seeking lavish handouts from American
taxpayers or the international community ‹ we are asking only for what is
rightfully ours. And any perception that the Kurds, the United States'
closest ally in Iraq, are being let down will dishearten the many other
Iraqis who want to work with the United States.

Not releasing that money also means not addressing a critical issue of
justice ‹ reversing decades of ethnic cleansing that has forced close to one
million people in Iraqi Kurdistan from their homes. Just a small fraction of
the oil-for-food money would finance the return of many of those who were
evicted, and pay for the decent resettlement of the Arabs who took over
their land. Thus far we have averted the chaos of a flood of displaced
families trying to return home by counseling patience to the Kurds, Turkmens
and Assyrian Christians who were forced out. This patience, however, is not
infinite. In the coming months we want to work with the coalition to set up
a fair, transparent mechanism to allow these people to come home.

Thus far, the coalition has taken important steps toward promoting
democracy. But aspects of the overall strategy remain vague. What Iraqis
have learned from their encounters with American soldiers and officials is
that they seek to democratize, not to dominate. While we are working with L.
Paul Bremer III, the American occupation administrator, to set up
constitutional councils to initiate the political process, we need to mark
out a clear path toward national elections and representative government, so
that Iraqis have some sense of certainty about their political future. One
positive development is that the main Iraqi political groups have been able
to reach consensus on the next stage of self-governance in Iraq.

Also crucial to realizing President Bush's vision of a democratic Iraq is
his, and our, belief in a federal Iraq. For too long, both Baathist and Arab
nationalist regimes held Iraq together by brute force. That is no longer an
option. Iraq was a state imposed upon its inhabitants, a country whose
preservation has cost too many lives. The new Iraq has to be different, a
democratically created state that reflects the will of its peoples and
accommodates their diversity. For that reason, and with United States
backing, we advocate a federal system of government. Iraqi federalism will
of course differ from that of the United States, but the fundamental
principle will be the same: a balanced system of government with
considerable local autonomy and a sovereign, federal center.

Democracy in Iraq will take time to establish itself. For more than three
decades, Iraqis endured a regime that carried out genocide, including the
anti-Kurdish Anfal campaign of 1987-88, which littered the country with mass
graves and "disappeared" hundreds of thousands. Iraq was a society where the
faintest hint of dissent could lead to a death sentence, as the Kurds gassed
in Halabja discovered.

The first building blocks of Iraqi federalism and democracy have already
been laid in Iraqi Kurdistan. Thanks to protection from American and British
air power, facilitated by Turkey, Kurds have had 12 years of a sometimes
faltering, but ultimately hopeful, experiment in self rule, openness and
pluralism. With continued help from the United States, and with our work on
the interim Iraqi administration, what has become known as the Kurdish
experiment in democracy can be a model for all of Iraq.

Jalal Talabani is secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Massoud Barzani is president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.


http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030714_38.html

*  A LOOK AT IRAQ'S GOVERNING COUNCIL
ABC News, from The Associated Press, 14th July

Thumbnail sketches of members of Iraq's newly named 25-member Governing
Council:

AHMAD CHALABI: A Shiite and leader of the London-based anti-Saddam Iraqi
National Congress. Chalabi, a 58-year-old former banker who left Iraq as a
teenager, had been touted in some U.S. government circles as a future Iraqi
leader though he denies he has any ambitions to lead the country. He also
has many critics who are opposed to anyone ruling Iraq after spending so
many years abroad. Chalabi was convicted in absentia of fraud in a banking
scandal in Jordan in 1989 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. His group is
an umbrella organization for a number of disparate groups, including Kurds
and Shiites.

ABDEL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM: A Shiite and a leader of the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq. SCIRI, long based in neighboring Iran, opposes a
U.S. administration in the country but has close ties with the other
U.S.-backed groups that opposed Saddam, including the Kurds and Chalabi's
INC.

JALAL TALABANI: A Sunni Kurd and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
He and Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party led the Kurdish
zone in northern Iraq that had near-autonomy from Saddam's regime since the
1991 Gulf War. Born in Kirkuk Province in 1934, Talabani joined the KDP at
the age of 15 and rose to its politburo in 1953. But he broke with the KDP
and founded the PUK in 1957.

MASSOUD BARZANI: A Sunni Kurd and leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Barzani, 56, leads the KDP, founded in 1946 by his father, the legendary
mountain warrior Mustafa Barzani. He was a teenager when he became an aide
to his father, then became KDP president when his father died in 1979. In
1983, three of his brothers disappeared in what Kurds call an Iraqi massacre
of the Barzani clan when 8,000 people were rounded up by the Baghdad regime.

IBRAHIM AL-JAAFARI: A Shiite and the main spokesman for the Islamic Dawa
Party. The party, once based in Iran, launched a bloody campaign against
Saddam's regime in the late 1970's, but it was crushed in 1982. The group
said it lost 77,000 members in its war against Saddam. Born in Karbala,
al-Jaafari was educated at Mosul University as a medical doctor.

NASEER KAMEL AL-CHADERCHI: A Sunni and leader of the National Democratic
Party. He lives in Baghdad and works as a lawyer, businessman and farmowner.
He is the son of Kamel al-Chaderchi, who played a leading role in Iraq's
democratic development until 1968, when the Baath Party seized power.

IYAD ALLAWI: A Shiite and secretary-general of the Iraq National Accord. He
is a medical doctor and began opposition to the Iraqi regime in the early
1970's. He was at the forefront of efforts to organize opposition both
within Iraq and abroad.

ADNAN PACHACHI: A Sunni who served as foreign minister in the government
deposed by Saddam's Baath party in 1968. The respected, 80-year-old
politician founded the Independent Democratic Movement in February to
provide a platform for Iraqis who back a secular, democratic government. He
returned to Iraq in May after 32 years in exile.

AHMAD SHYA'A AL-BARAK: A Shiite and general coordinator for the Human Rights
Association of Babel. He also is coordinator for the Iraqi Bar Association.
He has worked with U.N. programs in Iraq since 1991 in the Foreign Ministry.

AQUILA AL-HASHIMI: A Shiite and diplomat, she led the Iraqi delegation to
the New York donor's conference for Iraq. She holds a doctorate in modern
literature and bachelor's degree in Law.

RAJA HABIB AL-KHUZAAI: A Shiite woman who heads the maternity hospital in
the southern city of Diwaniyah. She studied and lived in Britain from the
late 1960s until 1977, when she returned to Iraq.

HAMID MAJID MOUSSA: A Shiite and secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party
since 1993. He is an economist and petroleum researcher. He left Iraq in
1978 and returned in 1983 to continue his political activities against the
Saddam regime.

MOHAMMED BAHR AL-ULOUM: A highly respected Shiite cleric who returned from
London where he headed the Ahl al-Bayt charitable center. He was elected as
the Shiite member of a leadership triumvirate by the Iraqi opposition after
the 1991 Gulf War.

GHAZI MASHAL AJIL AL-YAWER: A Sunni who was born in the northern city of
Mosul. He is a civil engineer and recently vice president of Hicap
Technology Co. in Saudi Arabia.

MOHSEN ABDEL-HAMID: A Sunni and secretary-general of the Iraqi Islamic
Party. He was born in the northern city of Kirkuk and is author of more than
30 books on interpretation of the Quran. He was detained in 1996 on charge
of reorganizing the IIP.

SAMIR SHAKIR MAHMOUD: A Sunni and member of al-Sumaidy clan. A writer from
the western city of Haditha, he was a prominent figure in the opposition to
Saddam's regime.

MAHMOUD OTHMAN: A Sunni Kurd who is politically independent but a longtime
leader of the Kurdish National Struggle.

SALAHEDDINE MUHAMMAD BAHAAEDDINE: A Sunni Kurd who was first elected
secretary-general of the Kurdistan Islamic Union in the first conference of
the party in 1994. He was born in the Kurdish village of Halabja and has
written several books in Kurdish and Arabic.

YOUNADEM KANA: An Assyrian Christian, secretary-general of the Democratic
Assyrian Movement and active member of the Assyrian-Chaldian Christian
community. He was a former minister of public works and housing and a former
minister of industry and energy in Iraqi Kurdistan. He began activism
against Saddam in 1979.

MOUWAFAK AL-RABII: A Shiite and longtime human rights activists. A member of
the British Royal Doctors' College, he practices internal medicine and
neurology.

DARA NOOR ALZIN: A Sunni Kurd who served as a judge on the Court of Appeal.
He ruled that of Saddam's edicts confiscating land without proper
compensation was unconstitutional. He was sentenced to two years in prison,
eight of them served at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad
before being released in a general amnesty in October.

SONDUL CHAPOUK: A Turkoman and a woman from the northern city of Kirkuk. She
was trained as an engineer and teacher. She serves as leader of the Iraqi
Women's Organization.

WAEL ABDUL-LATIF: A Shiite lawyer and judge, named governor of the southern
city of Basra on July 4 by local authorities.

ABDUL-KARIM MAHMOUD AL-MOHAMMEDAWI: A Shiite, dubbed "Prince of the Marshes"
for leading the resistance movement against Saddam in the southern march
region of Iraq for 17 years. He was imprisoned for six years and leads the
Iraqi political group Hezbollah in the southern city of Amarah.

ABDEL-ZAHRAA OTHMAN: A Shiite and the leader of the Islamic Dawa Movement in
Basra. He is a writer, philosopher and political activist, who served as
editor of several newspapers and magazines.


http://www.chaldeansonline.net/chaldeanews/cnc_cdu.html

*  CHALDEAN GROUPS PROTEST LACK OF CHALDEAN REPRESENTATION IN IRAQI RULING
COUNCIL
Chaldean National Congress Press release, 14th July

The Chaldean National Congress and the United Chaldean Democratic Party,
representing the Chaldean national movement, issued a joint press release
protesting strongly the lack of any Chaldean representative in the Iraqi
Ruling Council that was recently appointed by the American Civil Governor of
Iraq, Mr. Paul Bremer.

Following the joint press release of the two groups, Mr. Ghassan Hanna,
General Secretary of the Chaldean National Movement, promised a major
campaign inside and outside Iraq to protest that great injustice against the
Chaldeans. "We will allow no one to sidestep the Chaldean presence or claim
its representation, and we will work with all our power to get the Chaldean
voice heard till justice is done ".

Below is a copy of the complete press release:

Honorable Mr. Paul Bremer, Civil Governor on Iraq
Honorable Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Special Envoy to Iraq
Honorable Members of the Iraqi Ruling Council
Honorable Leaders of Iraqi Parties and Patriotic Personalities

We were looking forward for the creation of the Iraqi Ruling Council, and
we're extremely pleased for its birth which we consider as the first step on
the road to bringing life back to governmental agencies and organizations so
they could start servicing the Iraqi people. Also, so as that council could
bring back the much needed security and stability as well as establishing
the rule of law throughout Iraq.

We would also like to affirm our full respect and high regard for this
council and wish it all the success in its duty to serve our homeland and
people, especially, since it has among its members a number of highly
respected Iraqi personalities who are well known for their struggle against
the former regime.

Having said that, we on the other hand, would like to protest in the
strongest terms your complete disregard for the Chaldeans as demonstrated in
your failure to include their representatives in your council. That is
despite their honorable history in the service of Iraq and despite their
being the third largest Iraqi ethnic group, as well as despite their making
up more than 80% of Iraqi Christians i.e. being the absolute majority of
Christians.

Your clear failure to acknowledge our existence and refusal to add our
representatives to the council is a direct attack against the democratic
principles which you claim to follow. Those principles that advocate the
rule of the majority and its representation in the making of decisions, all
while taking into consideration the rights of the minority.

Hence, we strongly demand and in the name of justice, rectitude, and
democracy to add a Chaldean representative to your council as well as to all
future committees that will be created. Failure to do that will be
considered a clear violation and outright disregard for the democratic
principles that you claim to follow, as well as a clear breach of your own
public commitments in working towards the full representation of all the
components of the Iraqi population, including the Chaldeans.

Your clear disregard for the Chaldean existence is unjust and tyrannical
which we will not accept and strongly reject, especially, in a country which
you claim to work towards turning into a model of democracy in the area.


http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c
=StoryFT&cid=1057562353641&p=1012571727088

*  IRAQI INTERIM ADMINISTRATION DIVIDED AT BIRTH
by Charles Clover in Baghdad
Financial Times, 14th July

A 25-member interim administration for postwar Iraq met for the first time
on Sunday and immediately exposed divisions over the council's powers and
relations with the US-led coalition.

The creation of the interim administration, known as the governing council,
ends months of negotiations between coalition and Iraqi political groups. It
will have many of the functions of a provisional government although the
US-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad can veto its decisions.

The body's first decision on Sunday was to ban all holidays associated with
Saddam Hussein's regime. The council also declared April 9, the day Baghdad
was captured by US forces, as a national holiday.

But at a rowdy press conference led by Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, the
council's representative, council members, while united in hatred of Mr
Hussein, appeared divided on the subject of the coalition presence in Iraq.

Disagreement on this fundamental issue raged between Abdel Aziz al Hakim,
representing the Iran-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, and Ahmed Chalabi (pictured), head of the Pentagon-backed Iraqi
National Congress. Mr al Hakim referred to the coalition as occupiers while
Mr Chalabi insisted they were liberators.

Tempers also flared over the question of what powers the governing council
would have. Jalal Talabani, a council member and head of the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan, said the council enjoyed "practically all the functions of a
government". Mr al Hakim disagreed, saying the council's executive functions
were limited but he hoped this would be fixed in stages. "We have
nonetheless decided to participate because we consider this a correct first
step," he said.

The issue of the council chairmanship was postponed.

Perhaps the most daunting hurdle will be the scepticism of ordinary Iraqis
who view many council members as stooges of the US and the council as a
puppet government.

The 25 members were chosen jointly by Paul Bremer, the head of the CPA, and
seven political parties, many of them US-supported, known as the leadership
committee, each of which was given one seat. The council was intended to
reflect the "demographic and geographical make-up of Iraq", said Basil al
Naqeeb, an official from the Independent Democratic party.

The appointments apparently took account of Iraq's majority Shi'a Muslim
population. The council includes 13 Shi'a Muslims, five Sunni Muslims, five
Kurds, one Christian and one Turkmen. Two women among the 25 members
appeared on Sunday on the podium, wearing headscarves.

According to the CPA, the council will be able to appoint ministers, except
in defence and security posts, and diplomats to represent Iraq abroad,
though not at ambassador level.

Technically, the CPA will wield a veto over decisions by the governing
council although, according to Adnan Pachichi - tipped as a possible
candidate for the council chairmanship - "If there is any disagreement with
Mr Bremer, we do not expect them to use a veto, but to resolve the issue
through negotiations."


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/15_07_03_c.asp

*  LONG-OPPRESSED TURKMEN DEMAND A SAY IN FUTURE OF IRAQ
by Nermeen al-Mufti
Lebanon Daily Star, 15th July

For three decades, the former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, implemented a
policy of "Arabization" in wide areas of northern Iraq, bringing thousands
of tribal Arabs from southern and central Iraq to the oil-rich north, and
expelling non-Arab minorities - Turkmen, Kurds and Assyrians. Since the fall
of the Baath regime, a new campaign has been initiated, this time to
"Kurdicize" towns like Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu where more than 50 percent of
the population is Turkmen.

The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud
Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talabani, have brought
thousands of Kurdish families from the predominantly Kurdish north to
ethnically mixed towns like Kirkuk, which had been under the control of the
Baath regime.

Officials of the Anglo-American coalition have insisted that Kirkuk's city
council should include two members each from the Arab, Kurdish, Turkmen and
Assyrian communities. But there have already been bloody clashes between
Kurds and Arabs and tough talking between Kurds and Turkmen. Unless the
minorities' situation is addressed, more serious problems could lie ahead.

Turkmen, who are concentrated mainly in the northern and central regions of
Iraq, are the third-largest ethnic group in the country after Arabs and
Kurds. Originally from Central Asia, they began settling in Iraq thousands
of years ago in a migration that stretched over several hundred years. They
have ruled the country six times since establishing their first state in
northern Iraq in around 600 BC.

The exact number of Turkmen is a matter of dispute with Iraqi Kurds, who
claim that Kirkuk and its environs are a Kurdish region. Extrapolating from
a 1957 figure of 590,000 Turkmen in an overall population of 6 million, one
might estimate that Iraq today has some 2 million Turkmen citizens. Roughly
half of them live along an arc of land on the fringe of the Kurdish
mountains, in the provinces of Mosul, Irbil and Kirkuk.

Since the 1970s, the non-Arab peoples of northern Iraq have been favorite
targets of Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party, which stressed the primacy of
Arabs at the expense of non Arab minorities. Turkmen and Kurds especially
were victims of a policy to Arabize oil-rich regions where they are a
majority. However, most of the Arabs brought in by the former regime were
poor and uneducated and were isolated by the Turkmen, especially in Kirkuk.
Due to this marginalization, many left the town.

Under the Baath regime, thousands of villages were destroyed and their
inhabitants expelled or forcibly transferred to remote areas of southern
Iraq. Many of the limited cultural rights granted to Turkmen -
Turkish-language education in primary schools, daily radio and television
broadcasts and a newspaper - were withdrawn by 1972.

According to Human Rights Watch, Saddam Hussein's regime used a wide range
of tactics and demands to put pressure on Kurdish, Turkmen and Assyrian
families in order to make them abandon their homes. These included
compelling them to change their ethnicity - a process known as "nationality
correction" - forcibly enrolling them into the Baath Party and "volunteer'
paramilitary structures, pressuring families with relatives in Kurdistan and
attempting to recruit informers.

Nationality correction, formally introduced in 1997, required members of
ethnic groups residing in Kirkuk, Khaniqin, Makhmour, Sinjar, Tuz Khormatu
and other districts to relinquish their Kurdish, Turkmen or Assyrian
identities and register officially as Arabs. Until they did so, they were
not permitted to work - even in agriculture - or buy or build a house. Those
who refused were invariably expelled from their homes.

When Kirkuk was liberated last April, Kurdish fighters, with the approval
and assistance of coalition forces, turned up in the town insisting it was
the heart of Kurdistan.

At the same time, Turkmen parties peacefully entered the town saying there
could be no Turkmen without Kirkuk and no Kirkuk without Turkmen. The
tensions rose.

Since the Iraq war ended, Turkmen have established a local television and
radio station and a number of professional unions. Muzaffar Arsalan, the
founder of the Iraqi Turkmen National Front, an umbrella organization of
Turkmen parties established in exile, has ruled out armed struggle to defend
the community's rights.

"We have insisted on peaceful opposition right from the beginning," he said
in an interview. "We will obtain our rights with the support of our people.
Nothing can be gained without popular support. Saddam Hussein is the prime
example of this. He had everything but popular support. This resulted in his
downfall."

Human Rights Watch has urged the occupying powers to take a number of
measures to defend minority rights, including preserving all records
establishing the ethnicity and place of origin of displaced Iraqis and
establishing a public register of all Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians forcibly
expelled from their homes.

Arsalan has called for scrutiny of official documents to determine land
rights in contested areas. "The issue can be resolved by referring to the
facts," he said. "There is no need for arms, terror or intimidation. All
Iraqis should be granted their rights under the constitution."

Nermeen al-Mufti is a Turkmen writer and journalist. The Daily Star
publishes a revised version of this commentary courtesy of the London-based
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net)  


http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=340
327

*   IRAQ TO FORM WAR CRIMES COURT
by Nadim Ladki
Reuters, 15th July

BAGHDAD: Iraq's new U.S.-backed Governing Council has agreed to set up a war
crimes tribunal that will try ousted President Saddam Hussein and his top
associates, a spokesman for a key party in the council says.

U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said Washington and London would pull out
their forces from Iraq once the coalition's mission was accomplished. "We
have no desire to stay a day longer than necessary," he told reporters in
Baghdad.

A delegation from the Governing Council will visit U.N. headquarters in New
York next week and hopes to address the Security Council, U.N. officials
said. The council will also lobby for a seat in the U.N. General Assembly.

[.....]

Washington blames attacks on its forces on supporters of Saddam, who
disappeared during the U.S.-led invasion. Thirty-four people on a U.S. list
of 55 most-wanted Iraqis are either dead or in the hands of U.S. and British
forces.

"The Governing Council will take it upon itself to try them and to punish
them according to law," said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Iraqi
National Congress led by Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi.

"That includes Saddam Hussein, the biggest criminal."

He did not say whether Saddam would be tried in absentia.

Qanbar said the council formed a commission to lay down laws that would
allow it to put suspected war criminals on trial, including for mass
killings, executions and chemical attacks against Kurds in the 1980s.

Qanbar said the 25-member council, formed on Sunday, would also create a
commission to look into ways to "uproot" Saddam's once all-powerful Baath
Party from Iraqi society.

The visit of the council delegation to the U.N., tentatively slated for next
Tuesday, would mark one of its first official acts, and U.N. diplomats said
the Americans were hoping no member state would raise an objection to the
unusual request.

Convincing the United Nations to accept an ambassador to represent a new
Iraqi government that does not yet exist could be a problem, but only if the
General Assembly's credentials committee makes it a problem, the diplomats
said.

[.....]


RESTORATION OF CULTURE

http://www.mlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/b
ase/news-9/10573300288420.xml

*  CITY HIGH GRADUATE LAUNCHES ENGLISH PUBLICATION IN BAGHDAD
by Jeff Vandam
The Grand Rapids Press, 4th July

When David Enders, editor of the Baghdad Bulletin, looked at the proofs for
his upstart newsmagazine before it went to press, he noticed something
askew.

The printer hired by Enders and his partners -- an enthusiastic Iraqi man
who lives several miles north of Baghdad -- had made a mistake.

Instead of printing the text of the English-language magazine from left to
right, he printed it from right to left, the way Arabic text is written.

The error forced Enders, a 1999 graduate of Grand Rapids' City High School,
and his staff to wait an extra day to release their second issue on the
streets of Baghdad. Iraqis and occupying soldiers had been waiting two weeks
since the release of the Bulletin's inaugural issue, which was an instant
success.

When the 24-page issue finally came out June 24 -- printed correctly -- it
featured on its cover a brilliant blue banner and a photo of Iraqis marching
with protest banners. Inside were articles about Baghdad's closed stock
exchange, the Iraqi black market for passports and potential regime change
in Iran. Baghdad residents who read the first issue of the Bulletin said
they had not seen anything quite like it.

Enders, 22, and a few friends from American University in Beirut came to the
Iraqi capital less than two months earlier on a guarded caravan to create
their publication.

Within just a month of their arrival, they had secured funding, printing
presses, an office and a stable of writers to produce their first issue,
which hit newsstands June 9 at a price of 500 Iraqi dinars, or about 40
cents. The online version is at www.baghdadbulletin.com.

With little more than a series of internships as his journalistic
background, Enders and his colleagues are striving to bring responsible
journalism to Baghdad.

"It's gone quite well, though it's hard to tell whether that's because
people really like our content or because we're virtually the only
English-language publication available on the street," Enders said.

The Baghdad Bulletin was not born in a news meeting or a smoke-filled room,
but over a cup of tea in the England home of Ralph Hassall, a 23-year-old
Briton who is friends with Enders.

Hassall was at home during his Easter holiday from Arabic classes at the
American University in Beirut when his mother made a suggestion to him. "You
know what Iraq will need?" she said. "An English-language paper."

Hassall thought the idea might interest Enders, whom he had met in Beirut
earlier in the year at the university there. Enders, a University of
Michigan student who spent his last semester abroad, had some journalistic
experience through internships at The Grand Rapids Press, the Associated
Press and The New York Times.

Because Enders and Hassall had discussed traveling east to Iraq from Lebanon
to pursue free-lance journalism work, Hassall called Enders to tell him
about his mother's suggestion.

While receptive to the idea, Enders' primary concern was money. How would
they fund something it?

Hassall approached a few financiers in London and secured a loan of 10,000
pounds -- or about $16,700 -- enough to pay for living expenses and
equipment in Baghdad for a few months. Less than two weeks later, on May 1,
Enders and Hassall hitched a ride on a caravan to Iraq from Amman, Jordan,
to look at old Baath Party printing presses.

Things went better than Enders anticipated. A few weeks later, he and
Hassall were living and working in a large house in the upscale Baghdad
district of Mansur. The house, which belonged to an Iraqi man who had fled
to Lebanon, was across the street from the home of Jalal Talabani, the
founder and Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

On May 18, Enders posted an entry on his Web page for his friends and family
to read. "Baghdad is kind of a mess," he wrote. "Imagine a place with
absolutely no laws, and yes, it is true that pretty much everyone (EVERYONE)
besides me is carrying a gun."

Enders' mother, Denise Joseph-Enders, a special education consultant at
Comstock Park High School, thought the Bulletin was a joke when Enders first
e-mailed her about it. Now she says she has come around to the idea. Sort
of.

"He feels that this is a good thing to do and the right thing to do, so I
have really no control," she said. "And I'm happy for him."

After a whirlwind of long days and little sleep for the Bulletin's staff of
11 people, most of whom were paid $50 a week, the first issue hit the
streets June 9.

Enders and Hassall attracted a range of guest writers to their pages,
including Ann Clwyd, the United Kingdom's special envoy for human rights in
Iraq, and Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a former Iraqi exile who is a reporter for
the Beirut Daily Star.

Advertising is key at most publications, and the Bulletin is no different.
But circulation drives ad rates. So while the Bulletin's first issue had a
40-cent cover price, Enders and Hassall thought it wise to drum up interest
by giving away most of the 10,000 copies they had printed.

They hired a staff of five Baghdadis to bring the paper to English-speaking
neighborhoods. The people they hired were so pleased to get the job that
they acquired matching hats and shirts without any prompting. And they told
Enders they would have delivered the Bulletin for free. Enders said the
first issue was gobbled up by American and British soldiers, who were
desperate for something to read in English, and even more so by Iraqis, who
were desperate for news of their country's reconstruction.

The country has many English-speaking Iraqis, in part owing to past British
occupation.

Now that the second issue is in the hands of the Iraqi public, the challenge
for the Bulletin is to start turning a profit. Enders and Hassall have an
offer from a news agency asking them to serve as the agency's principal
source for news in the Middle East. The U.S. Army wants to share printing
presses with the Bulletin for its own newspaper.

For his part, Enders is settling into his new role. He recently adopted the
style of many Iraqi men by growing a mustache.

"I don't like it, but I'm not going to tell him," said his girlfriend,
Lauren Aposhian, 21, of the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. "He says he thinks
it makes him look older, but it doesn't. It makes him look like a
12-year-old with a mustache. But if it's going to increase his chances of
survival, I'm all for it."


RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT Vol. 6, No. 30, 11 July 2003

*  ASHUR ADDED TO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the ancient city of
Ashur has been added to both the World Heritage List and the List of World
Heritage in Danger, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) press release dated 2 July. The decision
was made at the 27th session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee meeting.

Ashur, founded in the third millennium B.C., served as the capital of the
Assyrian Empire from the 14th to the 9th centuries, B.C. Located along the
Tigris River in the northern Iraqi Salah Al-Din Province and now known as
Qal'at Sherqat, Ashur was a major international trading town. Ashur was also
the religious capital of the Assyrians, associated with the god Ashur. Kings
were crowned and buried in this city-state. The city was destroyed by the
Babylonians, but revived during the Parthian period in the 1st and 2nd
century A.D., according to UNESCO. "The excavated remains of the public and
residential buildings of Ashur provide an outstanding record of the
evolution of building practices from the Sumerian and Akkadian period
through the Assyrian empire, as well as including the short revival during
the Parthian period," UNESCO stated as part of its justification for naming
Ashur to the World Heritage List.

"When the property was nominated before the conflict, a large dam project
threatened the site, which would have been partially flooded by a reservoir.
While the dam project has been suspended by the current administration, the
committee considered that its possible future construction, as well as the
present lack of adequate protection, justified the inscription of the site
on the List of World Heritage in Danger," UNESCO noted. To view the World
Heritage Committee's findings, visit UNESCO's Iraq page at
(http://whc.unesco.org/sites/1130.htm). (Kathleen Ridolfo)


RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT Vol. 6, No. 30, 11 July 2003

*  U.S. ARRESTS IRAQI NEWSPAPER EDITOR IN CHICAGO

U.S. authorities arrested a Chicago-area newspaper editor on 9 July on
charges that he worked as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi government
under deposed President Hussein, "The Washington Post" reported on 10 July.
Prosecutors said that Khalid Abd al-Latif Dumaysi, 60, produced bogus press
passes for Iraqi intelligence agents and reported to Hussein's government on
the activities of Iraqi opposition leaders in the United States. He also
reportedly traveled to Iraq to attend birthday celebrations for the now
deposed leader and received thousands of dollars for his assistance. U.S.
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said that while Dumaysi's actions did not
constitute espionage against the United States, "Those who gather
information in the United States about people living in America for the
purpose of providing the information to hostile governments should
understand that the FBI will pursue them vigorously. We cannot tolerate
people doing that." Court documents related to a citizenship application
filed by Dumaysi in December 2001 indicate that he holds Jordanian
citizenship, according to "The Washington Post." His application for U.S.
citizenship was denied due to a lack of proper documentation, the daily
reported. (Kathleen Ridolfo)


http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD53703

*  EDITORIALS FROM THE NEW IRAQI PRESS
MEMRI Baghdad Dispatch (1), nd (sent to list, 15th July)

[.....]

Endnotes: (1) Al-Iraq Al-Jadid, July 7, 2003. The paper's title means "The
New Iraq," and is associated with Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, a
leading Shi'a leader in the holy city of Najaf. (2) Al-'Adala, July 7, 2003.
The paper is published by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq (SCIRI) headed by Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Hakim, a Shi'a senior
cleric who has been generally cautious in his statements with regard to U.S.
(3) Al Iraq Al-Jadid, July 7, 2003. (4) Al-Bayan, July 8, 2003. Al-Bayan is
an organ of Hizb Al Da'wa Al-Islami, or The Islamic Missionary Party. (5)
Baghdad, authored by Muhammad Ghazi Al-Akhras, July 9, 2003. Baghdad is
published by Harakat Al-Wifaq Al-Watani, or National Reconciliation
Movement. (6) Baghdad, authored by Abd Al-Hamid Al-Omari, July 9, 2003. (7)
Al-Yawm Al-Aakher, July 10, 2003. Al-Yawm Al-Aakhar is an independent
political daily published by the Al-Munnajed Publishing House. (8) Al-Yawm
Al-Aakher, July 7, 2003. (9) Dar Al-Salam, July 10, 2003. Dar-Al-Salam means
"The House of Peace," and is published by The Iraqi Islamic Party. (10)
Al-'Adala, July 10, 2003. Al-'Adala is published by the Supreme Council of
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). (11) Al-'Adala, July 10, 2003. (12)
Al-Aswaq, July 10, 2003. Al-Aswaq means "The Markets," and is published by
the Association of Iraqi Industries. (13) According to the London-based
Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat the newspaper Al-Sa'a, meaning "The Clock,"
has split into "two clocks." The first "clock" presented itself as a general
political newspaper, an organ of the United National Front, whose editorial
board is headed by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Qubaisi, a firebrand preacher in Qatar
who recently returned to Iraq with a moderate and even conciliatory voice.
The newspaper is published on Saturday and Wednesday. The second "clock"
presents itself as an independent political newspaper speaking for all the
Iraqis and issued by a group of journalists. The original Al-Sa'a ran into a
problem with the occupation authorities after publishing in June a story
about a gang rape by American soldiers of two Iraqi girls (Al-Sharq
Al-Awsat, July 10, 2003). (14) Al-Sa'a , July 12, 2003. (15) Al-Shira', July
12, 2003. The Chief Editor of Al-Shira is D. Sattar Ghanem. (16) Al-Da'wa,
July 12, 2003. Al-Dawa is an organ of the Islamic Missionary Party. (17)
Al-Aswaq, July 7, 2003. Ihsan Abd Al-Razzaq Abd Al-Ghafour is the publisher.
(18) Al-Sa'a, July 9, 2003.




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