From TPM:
Now that some of the dust has settled, we can see one thing pretty clearly: the IGC basically hijacked the process. The IGC essentially reconstituted as a caretaker government. The new President, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, was the current president of the IGC. Hoshiyar Zebari, who was the foreign minister in the IGC, is now the foreign minister under the interim government. Allawi was a member of and choice of the IGC, etc. And so on down the list. The only key issue is that Chalabi, if not his crew, has been purged. Brahimi agreed to a laying on of hands. But he didn't make the choices. He was sidelined.
When I heard this morning that the IGC had disbanded, I thought it seemed a little weird. This would explain it-- they're not disbanding, just taking a little vacation until they reconvene with a new name. I'm sure the whole handover thing will play well here in the U.S., since most people aren't familiar enough with what's going on to recognize the Iraqi players, and with everyone pretty much staying in place no one's likely to make a big fuss over the "transition." Still, I can't imagine that this is a good thing, since my understanding is that Iraqis see the IGC as American puppets. With them pretty much staying in place and America troops not going anywhere, who's going to think that anything significant has happened on July 1 outside the 50 states?
Posted by Jason at June 1, 2004 01:04 PM