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CNN Live At Daybreak
Swearing in Ceremony for Iraq's New Government Ministers
Aired September 03, 2003 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, for the last couple of hours, there has been a swearing in ceremony for Iraq's new governing ministers. That ceremony has been going on in Baghdad.
Our Ben Wedeman has more from there on what this means for the rebuilding of Iraq -- Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, well, that 25 minister cabinet was sworn in this morning. It's a cabinet that essentially reflects the ethnic break down of this country. You have 13 Shiite ministers. The Shiites, of course, make up about 60 percent of the population; five Kurdish ministers; five Arab Sunni ministers; one ethnic Turkish minister and one Assyrian Christian.
Now, this ministry, or rather this government was, the first names were supposed to be announced quite some time ago, within a week of the formation of the 25 member Governing Council appointed by the coalition authority. However, because of squabbling and disagreements, it took almost a month and a half.
Nonetheless, today this government is a reality. However, it does not have complete control of the situation -- Fredricka, the ultimate authority in Iraq is still the coalition provisional authority. Every Iraqi minister has a senior coalition adviser there who has a say in all major decisions that are made.
Nonetheless, L. Paul Bremer, the chief coalition authority administrator here, said that they will do their best to thrust, in his words, authority into the hands of the ministers, encouraging them to take as much -- rather, have as large a role as possible in the decisions taken here.
Of course, the United States is anxious to hand over as much responsibility as possible to the Iraqis. However, as I said, the ultimate authority is still the U.S.-led coalition -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Ben, some other changes involving international forces there today, particularly the polish-led forces now taking over control over much of central Iraq.
What does this mean and what kind of reaction has come from this?
WEDEMAN: Well, what this means is that now a 9,000 man force led by Poland will be responsible for security and the general situation in five provinces to the south of Baghdad. That handover ceremony happened this morning in the ancient city of Babylon. We were in that area. There was lots of security, lots of helicopters flying overhead. Now, what this means is that the United States will not be directly involved in that area. It's going to be a rather interesting multinational force. It's led by Poland, but it includes troops from Spain, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mongolia.
Now, this obviously is a somewhat troubled area. This includes the area of Najaf, where the massive car bomb went off last Friday, killing more than 80 people. So it's not going to be an easy brief for this multinational force, but it will take some of the pressure off the Americans here in Iraq -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, of course, what's the time line when all of those multinational forces will be there? Because right now very few of them are there, correct?
WEDEMAN: Well, you have several thousand troops already from Poland and Bulgaria and also from some of these other countries. They're still coming in. It's going to take some time. It's expected by mid to late September all of the U.S. forces in those areas will be gone.
But it will be a gradual process that has been somewhat delayed by the Najaf car bombing, but it will go ahead and the hope is, on the part of the U.S. forces, that by the end of September they'll be out of there -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ben Wedeman, thanks very much for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 3, 2003 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, for the last couple of hours, there has been a swearing in ceremony for Iraq's new governing ministers. That ceremony has been going on in Baghdad.
Our Ben Wedeman has more from there on what this means for the rebuilding of Iraq -- Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, well, that 25 minister cabinet was sworn in this morning. It's a cabinet that essentially reflects the ethnic break down of this country. You have 13 Shiite ministers. The Shiites, of course, make up about 60 percent of the population; five Kurdish ministers; five Arab Sunni ministers; one ethnic Turkish minister and one Assyrian Christian.
Now, this ministry, or rather this government was, the first names were supposed to be announced quite some time ago, within a week of the formation of the 25 member Governing Council appointed by the coalition authority. However, because of squabbling and disagreements, it took almost a month and a half.
Nonetheless, today this government is a reality. However, it does not have complete control of the situation -- Fredricka, the ultimate authority in Iraq is still the coalition provisional authority. Every Iraqi minister has a senior coalition adviser there who has a say in all major decisions that are made.
Nonetheless, L. Paul Bremer, the chief coalition authority administrator here, said that they will do their best to thrust, in his words, authority into the hands of the ministers, encouraging them to take as much -- rather, have as large a role as possible in the decisions taken here.
Of course, the United States is anxious to hand over as much responsibility as possible to the Iraqis. However, as I said, the ultimate authority is still the U.S.-led coalition -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Ben, some other changes involving international forces there today, particularly the polish-led forces now taking over control over much of central Iraq.
What does this mean and what kind of reaction has come from this?
WEDEMAN: Well, what this means is that now a 9,000 man force led by Poland will be responsible for security and the general situation in five provinces to the south of Baghdad. That handover ceremony happened this morning in the ancient city of Babylon. We were in that area. There was lots of security, lots of helicopters flying overhead. Now, what this means is that the United States will not be directly involved in that area. It's going to be a rather interesting multinational force. It's led by Poland, but it includes troops from Spain, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mongolia.
Now, this obviously is a somewhat troubled area. This includes the area of Najaf, where the massive car bomb went off last Friday, killing more than 80 people. So it's not going to be an easy brief for this multinational force, but it will take some of the pressure off the Americans here in Iraq -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, of course, what's the time line when all of those multinational forces will be there? Because right now very few of them are there, correct?
WEDEMAN: Well, you have several thousand troops already from Poland and Bulgaria and also from some of these other countries. They're still coming in. It's going to take some time. It's expected by mid to late September all of the U.S. forces in those areas will be gone.
But it will be a gradual process that has been somewhat delayed by the Najaf car bombing, but it will go ahead and the hope is, on the part of the U.S. forces, that by the end of September they'll be out of there -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ben Wedeman, thanks very much for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
