Baghdad, July 13: A governing council bringing together prominent Iraqis from all walks of political and religious life met today for the first time, a first step on the nation's path to democracy, US and Iraqi officials said. The panel will have real political muscle, with the power to name ministers and approve the 2004 budget, but final control of Iraq still rests with US administrator L Paul Bremer.

"The launch of the governing council will mean that Iraqis play a more Central role in running their country," Bremer said in a speech on Iraqi television yesterday. "It will represent the diversity of Iraq: whether you are Shiite or Sunni, Arab or Kurd, Baghdadi or Basrawi, man or woman, you will see yourself represented in this council."
The council met in a building that once belonged to Iraq's powerful military industrialization authority, part of a complex where Iraq's rubber-stamp Parliament used to meet under Saddam Hussein.


A formal announcement about the meeting and the makeup of the council was expected later.

The panel was selected after more than two months of consultations. One of its first goals will be to convince the Iraqi people that it represents them.

An official list of council members was not immediately available, but it was expected to have a majority of Shiite members, reflecting the country's demographics. Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people, but they have never ruled the country.
Bureau Report