Showtime in Iraq

Baghdad

When the new Governing Council of Iraq was announced in Baghdad Sunday afternoon, July 13, it was greeted as mis-, dis- or virtual information. It either belies, masks or predicts the real power in the country. This "interim administration," as the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority describes it, will presumably now set about defining the shape and character of a new Iraqi government.

Meanwhile, the shape and character of the American footprint in this conquered land grew a little smudged, which was the whole idea. Cosmetically, diplomatically or wisely, the American viceroy, Paul Bremer, did not make the announcement naming the Iraqi council himself but let the job fall to a United Nations special representative. With the twenty-five members of the Governing Council seated in a semicircle on the stage of the Convention Center, an auditorium that wouldn't be out of place at Lincoln Center but has better acoustics, the UN's Sergio Vieira de Mello called the occasion one of those "defining moments in history." The Convention Center, which seats more than 2,000, was about one-quarter filled with wanded and patted-down press and interested foreigners as well as carefully screened approving Iraqis. Bremer himself was positioned in the front row, flanked by a security detachment that would do honor to a Latin caudillo, looking enameled and pleased.

A number of the new members of the Governing Council made statements about their hopes for imminent self-government, dutifully translated from the stage. Some wore tribal headdress, others business suits; one of the women was veiled, while the other two wore conservative outfits. Despite complaints that many of the new Governing Council members had sat out the Saddam Hussein years in exile, the only one who didn't look indigenously Iraqi was Ahmad Chalabi, who dressed as the Washington lobbyist he is.

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