- A disagreement has broken out at a senior level within
the Bush administration over a new government that the US is secretly planning
in Kuwait to rule Iraq in the immediate period after the overthrow of Saddam
Hussein.
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- Under the plan, the government will consist of 23 ministries,
each headed by an American. Every ministry will also have four Iraqi advisers
appointed by the Americans, the Guardian has learned.
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- The government will take over Iraq city by city. Areas
declared "liberated" by General Tommy Franks will be transferred
to the temporary government under the overall control of Jay Garner, the
for mer US general appointed to head a military occupation of Iraq.
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- In anticipation of the Baghdad regime's fall, members
of this interim government have begun arriving in Kuwait.
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- Decisions on the government's composition appear to be
entirely in US hands, particularly those of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy
secretary of defence. This has annoyed Gen Garner, who is officially in
charge but who, according to sources close to the planning of the government,
has had to accept the inclusion of a number of controversial Iraqis in
advisory roles.
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- The most controversial of Mr Wolfowitz's proposed appointees
is Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, together
with his close associates, including his nephew.
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- During his years in exile, Mr Chalabi has cultivated
links with Congress to raise funds, and has become the Pentagon's darling
among the Iraqi opposition. The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is
one of his strongest supporters.
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- The state department and CIA, on the other hand, regard
him with deep suspicion.
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- Mr Chalabi had envisaged becoming prime minister in an
interim government, and is disappointed that no such post is included in
the US plan. Instead, the former banker will be offered an advisory job
at the finance ministry.
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- A senior INC official said last night that Mr Chalabi
would not countenance a purely advisory position. The official added: "It
is certainly not the INC's intention to advise any US ministers in Iraq.
Our position is that no Americans should run Iraqi ministries. The US is
talking about an interim Iraqi authority taking over, but we are calling
for a provisional government."
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- The revelation about direct rule is likely to cause intense
political discomfort for Tony Blair, who has been pressing for UN and international
involvement in Iraq's reconstruction to overcome opposition in Britain
as well as heal divisions across Europe.
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- The Foreign Office said last night that a "relatively
fluid" number of British officials had been seconded to the planning
team.
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- Last week Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, told
Congress that immediately after the fall of President Saddam's regime,
the US military would take control of the Iraqi government.
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- His only concession was that this would be done with
the "full understanding" of the international community and with
"the UN presence in the form of a UN special coordinator".
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- By imposing Mr Chalabi and his clique on the official
administration-in-waiting, Mr Wolfowitz seems to be trying to appease the
INC leader, even at the risk of annoying Gen Garner and those in Washington
who consider him unsuitable for a senior post.
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- Mr Chalabi is former chairman of the Petra Bank in Jordan
which collapsed, bringing ruin to many of its depositors. He was eventually
convicted of fraud in his absence by a Jordanian court, though he maintains
he is innocent.
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- Mr Chalabi has not lived in Iraq since 1956, apart from
a short period organising resistance in the Kurdish north in the 1990s,
and is thought to have little support inside Iraq.
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- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,927064,00.html
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