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CNN Saturday Morning News
Paul Bremer has Concluded his Meeting with Iraqi Governing Council
Aired November 15, 2003 - 09:06 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.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you back to Baghdad. U.S. administrator Paul Bremer has concluded his meeting with the Iraqi Governing Council. Bremer presented proposals from President Bush for turning over control to the Iraqis.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh is live in Baghdad, and he joins us now with more information. Alphonso, good morning.
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
There's a lot of information coming out. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to tell you, you might hear the call to prayer in the background behind me. It seems that the breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan is also cause for breaking of that Iraqi Governing Council meeting with the U.S. top administrator to Iraq, L. Paul Bremer.
Some very interesting points came out of this meeting today. They've been meeting for hours and hours. One of the big things I'll tell you about has to do with a draft law for an Iraqi administration period. They want to put that together before February 2004.
Now, they're saying this will include a procedure to select a draft constitutional committee by May 2004. Some of the issues they'll be going over has to do with separating different -- separation of powers, like the judiciary and the legislative. They also say they'll be wanting to respect human rights and also respect basic human freedoms, like freedom of religion.
They're also talking about putting civilian control of the -- or discussing, debating how much civilian control there should be of the army and the security systems here.
And also importantly, they want to talk about establishing a democratic style of government that respects all religions.
Again, this draft constitution should come by 2005, based on an elected delegation to a constitutional constitution -- excuse me, to a constitutional convention. And lastly, by May 2004, they say they want to put together a transitional council, and that council will choose an interim government before June 2004.
And when that all comes into play, they say the coalition provisional authority will be dissolved. ROBERTS: Alphonso, it's a major development this morning to learn some of the dates that are now set in place, and trying to wade through a lot of the information here. But to some people, a date, finally, on the table here seems kind of far off to realize that the U.S.-led occupation is going to have to go through till June of 2004.
VAN MARSH: Well, there are a lot of dates, a lot of different months coming out. But the key things to keep in mind is that the U.S. has expressed its displeasure with the Iraqi Governing Council and the pace of progress that it's making.
Now, at the same time, the Iraqi Governing Council said that it wants U.S. forces out of its country as soon as possible. So it would make sense that they want to kind of step up that timetable and get a temporary administration going and eventually elect delegates to a constitutional convention to eventually put together a new constitution to eventually transfer power from the occupying forces over to the Iraqis.
ROBERTS: Alphonso, while we have you, real quickly, resistance still remains strong in certain areas.
VAN MARSH: Well, yes. What we do know is that there has been a third consecutive night, I'm talking about last night, of Operation Iron Hammer, and that is the series of air raids and ground raids against what the U.S. calls enemy or Saddam loyalists. And this change, it's a strategic change in U.S. policy, military policy, here in Iraq in the wake of increasing attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces.
ROBERTS: Alphonso Van Marsh reporting for us in Iraq. Alphonso, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Council>
Aired November 15, 2003 - 09:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you back to Baghdad. U.S. administrator Paul Bremer has concluded his meeting with the Iraqi Governing Council. Bremer presented proposals from President Bush for turning over control to the Iraqis.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh is live in Baghdad, and he joins us now with more information. Alphonso, good morning.
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
There's a lot of information coming out. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to tell you, you might hear the call to prayer in the background behind me. It seems that the breaking of the fast during the holy month of Ramadan is also cause for breaking of that Iraqi Governing Council meeting with the U.S. top administrator to Iraq, L. Paul Bremer.
Some very interesting points came out of this meeting today. They've been meeting for hours and hours. One of the big things I'll tell you about has to do with a draft law for an Iraqi administration period. They want to put that together before February 2004.
Now, they're saying this will include a procedure to select a draft constitutional committee by May 2004. Some of the issues they'll be going over has to do with separating different -- separation of powers, like the judiciary and the legislative. They also say they'll be wanting to respect human rights and also respect basic human freedoms, like freedom of religion.
They're also talking about putting civilian control of the -- or discussing, debating how much civilian control there should be of the army and the security systems here.
And also importantly, they want to talk about establishing a democratic style of government that respects all religions.
Again, this draft constitution should come by 2005, based on an elected delegation to a constitutional constitution -- excuse me, to a constitutional convention. And lastly, by May 2004, they say they want to put together a transitional council, and that council will choose an interim government before June 2004.
And when that all comes into play, they say the coalition provisional authority will be dissolved. ROBERTS: Alphonso, it's a major development this morning to learn some of the dates that are now set in place, and trying to wade through a lot of the information here. But to some people, a date, finally, on the table here seems kind of far off to realize that the U.S.-led occupation is going to have to go through till June of 2004.
VAN MARSH: Well, there are a lot of dates, a lot of different months coming out. But the key things to keep in mind is that the U.S. has expressed its displeasure with the Iraqi Governing Council and the pace of progress that it's making.
Now, at the same time, the Iraqi Governing Council said that it wants U.S. forces out of its country as soon as possible. So it would make sense that they want to kind of step up that timetable and get a temporary administration going and eventually elect delegates to a constitutional convention to eventually put together a new constitution to eventually transfer power from the occupying forces over to the Iraqis.
ROBERTS: Alphonso, while we have you, real quickly, resistance still remains strong in certain areas.
VAN MARSH: Well, yes. What we do know is that there has been a third consecutive night, I'm talking about last night, of Operation Iron Hammer, and that is the series of air raids and ground raids against what the U.S. calls enemy or Saddam loyalists. And this change, it's a strategic change in U.S. policy, military policy, here in Iraq in the wake of increasing attacks against U.S. and other coalition forces.
ROBERTS: Alphonso Van Marsh reporting for us in Iraq. Alphonso, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Council>
