lennart
27-11-03, 16:45
Iraq Road Map to Be Changed to Mollify Shi'ites
Thu November 27, 2003 10:51 AM ET
By Joseph Logan
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A new U.S.-backed plan to hand sovereignty back to Iraqis will be changed after objections from the country's most revered Shi'ite Muslim leader, the head of Iraq's Governing Council said Thursday.
The U.S.-installed council's leader said the plan would be modified to ensure a central role for Islam and to take account of the cleric's wish that a planned transitional assembly be elected directly.
There was no immediate comment from Washington, which said earlier it would send thousands more Marines to Iraq next year to fight insurgents it blames for attacks on U.S.-led occupying forces.
"The agreement remains, but there's to be an appendix, with other texts. The agreement is developing," Governing Council President Jalal Talabani told reporters after meeting Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf.
Sistani's approval is seen as crucial to getting Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority to back the political timetable. The elderly cleric rarely makes public pronouncements on politics but most Iraqi Shi'ites look to him for guidance.
Under the U.S.-backed plan, regional caucuses would select an interim assembly by the end of May and this body would pick a transitional government the following month. The government would take over sovereignty from the U.S.-led administration, formally ending the occupation, although U.S.-led foreign troops were expected to remain.
"(Sistani) requested that the allies make good on the promises they made to Iraqis. He believes, correctly, that this is democracy," Talabani said. "There's an appendix that says Islam is the religion of the majority and it must be respected and considered a main source for the constitution."
Thu November 27, 2003 10:51 AM ET
By Joseph Logan
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A new U.S.-backed plan to hand sovereignty back to Iraqis will be changed after objections from the country's most revered Shi'ite Muslim leader, the head of Iraq's Governing Council said Thursday.
The U.S.-installed council's leader said the plan would be modified to ensure a central role for Islam and to take account of the cleric's wish that a planned transitional assembly be elected directly.
There was no immediate comment from Washington, which said earlier it would send thousands more Marines to Iraq next year to fight insurgents it blames for attacks on U.S.-led occupying forces.
"The agreement remains, but there's to be an appendix, with other texts. The agreement is developing," Governing Council President Jalal Talabani told reporters after meeting Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf.
Sistani's approval is seen as crucial to getting Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority to back the political timetable. The elderly cleric rarely makes public pronouncements on politics but most Iraqi Shi'ites look to him for guidance.
Under the U.S.-backed plan, regional caucuses would select an interim assembly by the end of May and this body would pick a transitional government the following month. The government would take over sovereignty from the U.S.-led administration, formally ending the occupation, although U.S.-led foreign troops were expected to remain.
"(Sistani) requested that the allies make good on the promises they made to Iraqis. He believes, correctly, that this is democracy," Talabani said. "There's an appendix that says Islam is the religion of the majority and it must be respected and considered a main source for the constitution."