Whatever is the U.S. to do if the Iraqi council starts (gasp) making decisions that benefit their own country? They may have to bring back Saddam from his hidey-hole.
US sees challenge from Iraq councilMore actions like these would really put the BushJunta in a quandary. Iraq was supposed to be a subservient little imperial outpost, not anything like a democracy. And seeings anybody who appears to favor the U.S. leaders stands a chance of being assassinated, the council may continue to craft policy that acts against the U.S.'s self-interest. The Iraq situation has been a bloody mess. Now it's getting interesting as well.
Interim government pushes toward self-rule
By Stephen J. Glain and Robert Schlesinger, Globe Staff, 9/27/2003WASHINGTON -- The interim Iraqi government, set up by the United States to advise its senior administrator in Baghdad, has surprised Washington recently with a series of increasingly contentious positions as it presses for self-rule, from a push for sweeping economic changes to a move toward normalizing trade relations with Syria and Iran, countries branded by US officials as exporters of terrorism.
For the Bush administration, which is already fending off demands from allies for a swift return to Iraqi self-rule, such assertiveness by the Governing Council is a mixed blessing, analysts and diplomats say: It means democracy is evolving in Iraq, but at a pace difficult for Washington to control and not necessarily compatible with its interests."