zimv20
Sep 7, 2003, 10:26 PM
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0905/p06s01-woiq.html
In two key spheres in which the US-led coalition is having a difficult time asserting its authority - security and governance - prominent Iraqis are threatening to ignore or upstage the Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) plans for Iraq.
Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, a highly respected Shiite cleric who withdrew from the interim Governing Council this week, says that he may set up militias around Iraq to address deteriorating security. Mr. Ulloum, who was appointed to the council in July by US officials, said he was leaving the council after a car bombing in Najaf a week ago killed at least 85 people, including Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, one of the country's most senior Shiite leaders.
The Constitutional Monarchy Movement (CMM), led by Sherif Ali bin Hussein - a Hashemite family prince who is considered by royalists to be the heir to the Iraqi monarchy deposed in 1958 - is organizing a conference of what he says will be approximately 500 political, professional, tribal, and legal leaders from all over Iraq. The conference, which Mr. Hussein says will be held here later this month, will contest Washington's postwar approach in Iraq.
"The whole society feels like they've been denied the right to participate," says Hussein in an interview.
"We have been in discussions for six weeks, and what we are building is a consensus of the real Iraqis. Iraq is occupied and we need to discuss how we should deal with the occupation authorities, because so far, that relationship is one-sided."
In two key spheres in which the US-led coalition is having a difficult time asserting its authority - security and governance - prominent Iraqis are threatening to ignore or upstage the Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA) plans for Iraq.
Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, a highly respected Shiite cleric who withdrew from the interim Governing Council this week, says that he may set up militias around Iraq to address deteriorating security. Mr. Ulloum, who was appointed to the council in July by US officials, said he was leaving the council after a car bombing in Najaf a week ago killed at least 85 people, including Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim, one of the country's most senior Shiite leaders.
The Constitutional Monarchy Movement (CMM), led by Sherif Ali bin Hussein - a Hashemite family prince who is considered by royalists to be the heir to the Iraqi monarchy deposed in 1958 - is organizing a conference of what he says will be approximately 500 political, professional, tribal, and legal leaders from all over Iraq. The conference, which Mr. Hussein says will be held here later this month, will contest Washington's postwar approach in Iraq.
"The whole society feels like they've been denied the right to participate," says Hussein in an interview.
"We have been in discussions for six weeks, and what we are building is a consensus of the real Iraqis. Iraq is occupied and we need to discuss how we should deal with the occupation authorities, because so far, that relationship is one-sided."
