Rushed Iraqi transition fraught with legal pitfalls - experts

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040429/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_combat&cid=1514&ncid=1480

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A year after effectively declaring their military mission accomplished in Iraq (news - web sites), US officials are rushing to restore Iraqi self-rule by June 30 in a process international law experts say is fraught with legal pitfalls.

Two months before the deadline, even the UN envoy tasked with coming up with an interim adminstration says he has only a "skeleton" plan clouded by escalating violence in the war-ravaged country.


"A key question is whether a credible political process is even viable under such circumstances," Lakhdar Brahimi said Tuesday, adding: "There is no alternative but to find a way."


Brahimi is seeking to form a caretaker government led by a prime minister, a titular president and two vice presidents to run Iraq until elections in January for a national assembly that will then draft a permanent constitution.


Some scholars say the scheme is a mix of political necessity and military reality cloaked in legal formalities. These may not stand up and could scare off would-be investors and other participants in Iraq's reconstruction.


"The whole questionable way the occupation has been run is going to come back to haunt Iraq for decades, all of these messy legal issues that were not handled properly," said Mary Ellen O'Connell, professor of international law at Ohio State University.
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I really want our troops to get out of Iraq ASAP, but not at the expense of the Iraqi's political structure. They deserve a proper government and police force that can adequately handle the pressures of controling a country.

Why did we even set that damn date anyway? Can you answer that, Bush administration? Why the hell June 30th, 2004, and why not "whenever we can finally get things settled in"?

By establishing this date, Bush has put himself in a quagmire. Either we hand off the country by June 30th to a government that is not quite capable of handling the responsibility and endanger the welfare of the Iraqis, or to trash the deadline and just keep working on it, facing more criticism by Kerry about "breaking promises." It's a bed Bush has made for himself - and it doesn't look comfortable.