Washington, Sept 08: Admitting that occupation in Iraq was becoming unpopular and Saddam Hussein's ouster has left behind a vacuum, top US civilian administrator in the country, Paul L Bremer, has outlined a seven-step process to transform Iraq into a democratic, sovereign nation. "Although Iraqis have freedoms now they never had before, freedom is not sovereignty and occupation is unpopular with occupier and occupied alike," Bremer said in an article published in the 'Washington Post' today.
"But Saddam Hussein has left behind a vacuum. Electing a government without a permanent constitution defining and limiting government powers invites confusion and eventual abuse," he said.
Nevertheless, Bremer said, the path to full Iraqi sovereignty is clear. The journey has begun and three of the seven steps on this path have already been taken.
The first step came two months ago with the creation of a 25-member governing council broadly representative of Iraqi society. The second step took place last month when the governing council named a preparatory committee to devise a way to write a constitution. The third and most important was putting day-to-day occupation of Iraqi government in the hands of Iraqis.
"Now every Iraqi ministry is run by an Iraqi appointed by Iraqis," he claimed.
Writing Iraq's new constitution is the fourth step. It begins after the preparatory committee recommends a process for writing a constitution to the governing council later this month.
Bureau Report