Iraq: Live from Baghdad ...with Anthony Shadid .....Pulitzer Prize winner

Anthony Shadid: Good afternoon everyone. It's a pleasure to join you all. I'll try to get to as many questions as I can over the next hour.

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Oklahoma City, Okla.: Hello Mr. Shadid,
I understand that not much is known about the transfer sovereignty coming up on June 30th. With that in mind, once the transfer is made, could the new government of Iraq just order the coalition forces to leave the country? Would this be the best way for them to establish legitimacy with the population there? If the U.S. refused, then what sovereignty was transferred or created?

Anthony Shadid: I can't pass up a question from my hometown. And it's a good one. The surge in violence over the past couple of weeks has overshadowed what is a very dramatic political struggle going on -- what shape the government after June 30 will take and what authority it will have. It's hard to imagine a government having the authority to order U.S. troops out or the U.S. government allowing that to happen. But I think you get at the possible impact of that -- a lack of credibility for that government and a prolonged period in which a real vacuum of authority exists. That's not a certainty, but it's a distinct possibility.

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Grand Rapids, Mich.: In your opinion, what toll has the "collateral damage," i.e. deaths of innocent bystanders in Iraq taken on Iraqi public opinion toward the U.S. occupation? Also, Paul Bremer recently said that the U.S. does not have a plan for turning over the Iraqi government on 6/30. How could that be possible if we intend to turn it over, anyway?

Anthony Shadid: In the past week, you've seen what appears to be a real shift in sentiments in Baghdad. I've spoken to very few people who are not upset by the casualties in Fallujah or the fighting in Sadr City, a Baghdad neighborhood. Many will also express profound disgust at the killing and mutilation of the contractors there. But often those words are followed by the line that the response has been disproportionate. That backlash had the potential to become very dangerous if a cease-fire hadn't been reached a few days ago. As for Bremer, it's a real concern. The U.N.-led process on finding an arrangement after June 30 doesn't seem to be making much headway, and there's a feeling among many Iraqis that the Governing Council -- a body that suffers badly from a lack of legitimacy -- may be the fall-back option. In other words, authority is turned over to it on June 30, perhaps after it is slightly expanded.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5492-2004Apr12.html