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Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Iraqi council opposes arrival of more occupying troops

Reuters
Baghdad, September 10

Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council said on Wednesday that it opposes the
arrival of more foreign troops to boost the US-led occupation.

"Our council does not welcome receiving any troops, but rather the embarking
of troops from Iraq," Ahmed Chalabi, the holder of the council's rotating
chairmanship, told reporters.

"We will not invite any troops. Our ultimate aim is to restore sovereignty
to our land," he said in Arabic.

A former Iraqi exile who heads the Iraqi National Congress party, Chalabi
has been criticised in the past for his closeness to Washington but appeared
to be seeking to assert his and the council's independence at the news
conference.

Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the United States has some 130,000
soldiers in Iraq but wants other nations to send 15,000 more to help combat
violence and aid reconstruction.

Britain has an 11,000-strong contingent and is sending at least 1,200 more.
Other nations have about 9,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Chalabi said the council, which has appointed ministers and won crucial
recognition from the Arab League in its first two months, understood the
U.S.-led occupying coalition "is in charge and makes its own decisions"
about troops.

However, he added: "The Iraqi people understand the logic of liberation but
they don't understand the logic of occupation."

Viewed by many as a US puppet which does not properly represent Iraqis, the
Governing Council was created as a first step to placing power back in local
hands and is taking initial steps towards writing a new constitution and
holding elections.

Chalabi welcomed the Arab League's decision this week to give the Council's
delegate Iraq's seat at its Cairo meeting, saying he hoped the United
Nations would follow suit.
"Arab countries now are really convinced that the Governing Council is
representing Iraq, the whole country," he said.

Some Arab nations had been concerned recognising the council would
legitimise the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.

Iraq's council-appointed Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari will travel to
Geneva on Thursday for talks with representatives of the United Nations and
its Security Council members about a U.S. resolution on Iraq, Chalabi said.

"It's important to have Iraqi input into the resolution," he said of the
US-proposed motion to mandate a wider multinational force in Iraq.

© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.
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