John Negroponte, newly-appointed President of Iraq, erm, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
From today’s statement by President Bush at the Pentagon:
“In the next few weeks, important decisions will be made on the make up of the interim government. As of June 30th, Iraq’s interim government will assume duties now performed by the coalition, such as providing water and electricity and health care and education.”
Maybe he meant to add “…and governing Iraq” at the tail end there, and carelessly left it out?
No, wait, that would contradict Article 26 of the Iraqi Constitution recently implemented by the occupying Coalition:
“(A) Except as otherwise provided in this Law, the laws in force in Iraq on 30 June 2004 shall remain in effect unless and until rescinded or amended by the Iraqi Transitional Government in accordance with this Law.
(C) The laws, regulations, orders, and directives issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority pursuant to its authority under international law shall remain in force until rescinded or amended by legislation duly enacted and having the force of law.
5 replies on ““See, I never said Iraqis would govern themselves after June 30th…””
You’re now Free and Independent and free! Now bark like a dog for the camera.
I don’t understand what the big deal is. These constitutional provisions are simply a statement that the new government doesn’t have to create a lawbook from scratch; the law won’t change from June 29 to June 30 to July 1 until the new government changes it. We don’t automatically repeal the laws of the old Congress when a new Congress comes into session. States implement new constitutions all the time without repealing the laws under the old constitutions.
Article 26(B), which you left out, makes it clear that the new legislature can override the earlier decisions of the CPA, subject only to the rights of an autonomous Kurdish government to govern its own territory and the limits of the legislative authority — not to mention the fact that that’s precisely what Article 26(C) says.
Article 29, which you also left out, calls for the dissolution of the CPA and Governing Council on June 30.
We can’t even get a straight election here!
Yes, Iraq will be rolling in democracy any minute now…
although you guys usually come with the correctness, this is taken totally out of context. please read the entire article 26 and see that the cpa rulings can be overridden by the new government, which is actually more scary to me than having a us puppet in iraq.
Bremmer said the Iraqis don’t want the US military to leave. This makes sense because the result would apparently be civil war amongst the factions, this may have been the reason for not taking Baghdad(Iraq) during the Kuwait/GulfWar in ’91, getting caught in a civil war.
Scary? Yes. I hope this turnover (June30) could have a beneficial effect but I fear it is window dressing (Nov5) and the recent track record gives a strong impression the plan, or lack of, is very weak.
I keep trying to remind myself of the people in Iraq who have been squeezed for decades. I’m wondering if any of the improvments touted by the US administration have actually benefitted their lives.
Now Chalabi is out and ranting anti-American rhetoric and possibly collaborating with the Iranians.
A Democratic movement in the region will face a long and complicated assault.
So as long as the US/Coalition is there they will be the main target and when they leave(if so) then civil war.
Yikes.