The new Iraqi government will have “full sovereignty,” U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday, insisting Tuesday that he played no role in choosing who will lead the country after Washington hands over control on June 30.
Mr. Bush said, though, that the nascent government will need plenty of help from the outside world, and he predicted more violence from people determined to stop “progress” in the Middle East.
“A free Iraq will be a decisive blow to terrorism,” he told reporters at a news conference at the White House. “It's going to send a clear signal that the terrorists can't win.”
He would not say whether U.S. troops would leave if it was demanded by the new government. He repeatedly referred to a statement earlier Tuesday by prime ministerial nominee Iyad Allawi, who said that he wanted the troops to stay, at least for now.
The new president of Iraq, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar gives a speech Tuesday at the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad. (Mauricio Lima/AFP)
Mr. Bush was responding to the appointment in Baghdad of Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer as the interim president of Iraq. Mr. al-Yawer was named to the largely ceremonial post after Adnan Pachachi, reportedly the preferred choice of Washington, pulled his name out of contention.
The appointment of Mr. al-Yawer to lead the interim administration – along with Mr. Allawi as prime minister, two vice-presidents and the rest of the 33-member government – was the result of strenuous diplomacy between the Bush administration, UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Most of the Governing Council, which voted later Tuesday to dissolve itself, backed Mr. al-Yawer.
A spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the administrative body that has been overseeing Iraq, had insisted the Americans have not shown a preference for Mr. Pachachi, though many council members dismissed that statement.
In his briefing, Mr. Bush shrugged off criticisms that Mr. al-Yawer had levelled at the U.S. occupation.
“Mr. Brahimi put together a government that's going to be, first and foremost, loyal to the Iraqi people,” he said. “And that's important. It's a government with which I believe we can work.”
He said that he had “zero” role in the makeup of the new government and said that they would be independent and would have to prove their legitimacy to the Iraqi people. He said Washington would provide as much help as is wanted.
Earlier Tuesday, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the new government was “a positive step” for Iraq and insisted that “these are not America's puppets.”
She also warned that there could be increase in violence while Iraqi fighters test the resolve of the new government.
“In the short term you could see more violence. The important thing is the political process is under way and is continuing.”
