Iraq: Live from Baghdad with Anthony Shadid

Iraq: Live from Baghdad with Anthony Shadid

Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 13, 2004; 1:00 PM

For the past year, Washington Post foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid has been covering the war from Iraq. Last week, Shadid won a Pulitzer Prize for his work covering the U.S.-led war and its aftermath.

Shadid will be online, live from Baghdad, on Tuesday, April 13 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his reporting and the latest developments in Iraq.

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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.

more...

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