Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Stages For New Government Precise

Juan Cole 11/17/2003

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Stages for New Government

The precise stages envisaged in the new plan for Iraqi sovereignty by June, 2003, are available at the Web site of the Coalition Provisional Authority. The Fundamental Law laying out basic rights and the structure of the state must be completed by Feb. 28, 2004. (Dara Nuruddin, a member of the IGC and a court judge, told AFP Sunday that the governing council had already begun crafting the Fundamental Law). By March, 2004, the IGC would complete some bilateral treaties with the US regarding troops in the country.

A new Transitional National Assembly will be elected from each of Iraq’s 18 provinces. It won’t be an expansion of the IGC, though IGC members can run for office. The electorate will be chosen by handpicked committees, so the process is anything but democratic. The TNA will be elected no later than May 31, 2004. The assembly will in turn elect a prime minister or president, who will appoint cabinet officers. The current Interim Governing Council will hand over power to the new government by June 30 and will be dissolved, as will the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Riverbend gained the impression from their recent speeches that Ahmad Chalabi and Jalal Talabani weren’t entirely aware that the Transitional National Assembly won’t be an extension of the IGC. Of course, Talabani will easily be elected anew from Sulaimaniya. Chalabi clearly thinks that he will be elected to the TNA, as well, though I’m not sure what constituency would return him. West Baghdad is Sunni. East Baghdad is pro-Muqtada al-Sadr. Maybe he could get elected from Basra. But he is not very popular from all accounts. One worries that he will use some of the millions he stole from that bank he ran in Jordan, and from the CIA and the State Department, to finance a campaign with bought votes. It would be a horrible thing if this crooked millionnaire subverted budding Iraqi democracy by buying himself the presidency of the country.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Regime Change: From Thomas Jefferson to Donald Trump
  • War Criminal Netanyahu nominates Felon Trump for the Nobel Prize
  • Why Faith Leaders are standing up to the Largest pro-Israel Christian Lobby
  • Albanese Sanctions: Marco Rubio now Acting just Like Putin, Charging Human Rights Officials
  • In Too Much of the US, Israel's Gaza Genocide Has Been Made Invisible

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved