At a May 4 press briefing:
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Secretary Rumsfeld: The Iraqi people will figure out what the government of Iraq will do.
The Iraqi people will ultimately decide on a constitution, the Iraqi people will be the ones to decide what the form of that government might be. There will be an interim, meaning temporary, short-lived authority of some kind, there will be people who will like it, and there will be people who don’t like it just as in the United States of America. That’s what democratic people do. They say they like this or I don’t like that and that’s fine, but the interim will be interim, it will be temporary, it will not be permanent and that process, people - Iraqis will figure out what the next step ought to be, and then Iraqis will approve or disapprove or modify what that final government will look like. Therefore, how can they reject it, if it will be theirs and it will be an Iraqi solution to a circumstance in Iraq? Now take the United States, are there people here who don’t like this form of government? Sure. Are there people who don’t like what our government does from time to time? Sure. And do they appear on television? Sure, because it’s news, someone’s against something let’s get right up there and they will talk about. And my guess is when that interim government, correction - interim authority begins to stand up, you will hear people say, Ahh it’s too big, it’s too small, it’s too slow, it’s too fast, it’s this, it’s that and the answer to that will be, fair enough. It’s not perfect, it’s temporary it’s interim, get into it, make it what you want because what’s important isn’t the interim authority, what’s important is what follows it and that’s going to be for the Iraqi people. Fair enough?
During an April 7th CNN interview with Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage:
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.....the fact that our forces are being welcomed with open arms. This is something we cherish and we'll do our utmost to continue to deserve. You see jubilance in many of the streets and I think it will continue. This is not something, however, that will last forever. We have to make sure that our follow-on actions are absolutely consistent with those things, which will win the favor of the Iraqi people.
(edit)
.....so we have to have a government, which is of, for and by Iraqis. Now the question of how you form it, it seems to me that the administration is on the right track by trying to develop an interim Iraqi authority, which will be developed by Iraqis, themselves, in close consultation with coalition members who, after all, have shed their blood and expended their treasure to bring about the liberation of Iraq.
Remarks by the President on Operation Iraqi Freedom, April 28th, Ford Community and Performing Arts Center
Dearborn, Michigan
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The Iraqi people are fully capable of self-government. Every day Iraqis are moving toward democracy and embracing the responsibilities of active citizenship. Every day life in Iraq improves as coalition troops work to secure unsafe areas and bring food and medical care to those in need.
America pledged to rid Iraq of an oppressive regime, and we kept our word. (Applause.) America now pledges to help Iraqis build a prosperous and peaceful nation, and we will keep our word again. (Applause.)
Now:
Frustrated Reservists See a Mission Impossible
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U.S. officials need to get our [expletive] out of here," said the 43-year-old reservist from Pittsburgh, who arrived in Iraq with the 307th Military Police Company on May 24. "I say that seriously. We have no business being here. We will not change the culture they have in Iraq, in Baghdad. Baghdad is so corrupted. All we are here is potential people to be killed and sitting ducks."
To Sgt. Sami Jalil, a 14-year veteran of the local police force, the Americans are to blame. He and his colleagues have no badges, no uniforms. The soldiers don't trust them with weapons. In his eyes, his U.S. counterparts have already lost the people's trust.
"We're facing the danger. We're in the front lines. We're taking all the risks, only us," said the 33-year-old officer. "They're arrogant. They treat all the people as if they're criminals."
Many of the Iraqi officers despise the U.S. soldiers for what they see as unreasonable demands and a lack of respect. Many of the soldiers in Pollard's unit -- homesick, frustrated and miserable in heat that soars well into the 100s -- deem their mission to reconstitute the force impossible.
Of course that's just one police station in just one city.
Cleric Wants Iraqis to Write Constitution
Actually, it's more than just "wants."
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Iraq's leading Shiite cleric has issued a ruling condemning the idea of a constitutional council put together by the American occupation authority, saying Iraqis should elect the drafters of their constitution.
The cleric's edict, or fatwa, may complicate considerably the plans of the American-led authority here to call a convention to select a commission to draft a new constitution for Iraq.
It's not like no one tried to warn them.
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SENATOR BIDEN: "…but the real key here is we get one real shot at starting off a transition government here. And whatever that government is, that transition government, if it looks like it's imposed by us, if it looks like we sat down, hand-picked the leaders, put them in place, it will not have any legitimacy with the Iraqi people …"
They were warned to include not merely the window dressing of more "willing" coalition partners, but Nato, the UN, and countries like France and Germany who have ready expertise. They were warned that anything that quacked like an "American occupation" would be a constant object of attack. They were warned to include Iraqis at every level in decision making, they were warned that law and order and restoration of basic services was the most important initial goal.
The criticisms are reaching a critical mass. Watch for a new Rovian Presidential initiative that appears to shift our reconstruction efforts in the direction of the critics, without acknowledging those critics, of course, without actually changing anything very much on the ground.