Iraqis' patience wears thin as America delays handover

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,1056347,00.html

As Europe and UN put pressure on Washington, Iraqi leaders say they fear being 'puppets' of US

Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
Sunday October 5, 2003
The Observer

When Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Baghdad, appointed the Iraqi governing council, he held out the promise of a significant Iraqi influence on America's postwar reconstruction.
But nearly three months later, widening differences are emerging between the chosen Iraqi leaders and Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that threaten American attempts to bring stability and security to Iraq. In a series of interviews with The Observer, several members of the council complained they had only a limited influence over American policies and were deeply frustrated at their lack of control over security and spending plans.

'They want to keep all the control for themselves,' said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish politician and one of the 24 council members. 'When you are not controlling the budgets, when the security file is not under your control, and when you cannot create jobs, what can you do? It is better to give up.'

'We will be looked at as puppets of the Americans and we will fail. If we fail, they fail.'

more

controls anything that affects their life.