Census Plan Bypasses Igc Iraqi Census

Juan Cole 12/05/2003

Census Plan bypasses IGC

made up a plan that would have allowed a census to be completed by September 1, but the plan was immediately rejected by the US and did not reach the Interim Governing Council before their Nov. 15 vote on creating a transitional government through caucus elections. According to AFP, angry council members said they might have voted differently. They plan did not arrive from the Census Bureau because of a bureaucratic SNAFU. Still, the US officials had seen the plan and rejected it and did not bother to bring it up with the IGC. The outcome looks manipulated even if it was not. Of course, the real reason for trying to get a new transitional government by July 1 is to get Iraq out of the news before the fall presidential campaign.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor in the History Department 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