IRAQ: The new Iraqi cabinet seems to perpetuate the sectarian model adopted by US, administrator Paul Bremer, writes Michael Jansen.
Iraqis deeply disappointed by the lack of democratic consultation in post-war Iraq were not reassured by the naming of the new cabinet yesterday.
Iraqis complained that they had no voice in the choice of ministers or their deputies. The selection was made by the interim governing council and approved by the US chief administrator, Mr Paul Bremer. While the cabinet reports to the council, since no Iraqi has been appointed prime minister, Mr Bremer remains in overall charge and each minister is to be supervised by US advisers, who are, in effect, shadow ministers.
The main concern of many Iraqis is that the cabinet perpetuates and solidifies the sectarian model adopted by Mr Bremer when he appointed the governing council on July 13th.
After weeks of wrangling over whether ministers should be technocrats or politicians, the dispute was resolved by calling upon council members to name several candidates, from which the selections were made. While each council member did not make a personal appointment, the cabinet - made up of 13 Shias, five Sunnis, five Kurds, one Christian and one Turkoman - perfectly reflects the sectarian or communal composition of the council.
This is not true, however, with respect to the ratio of men to women. Female representation has been reduced from three on the council to one, Ms Nisreen Brawi, a Kurd, who has been given the public works ministry. Iraqi women, who comprise 55 per cent of the population, have complained that they were seriously under-represented on the council and can be expected to express their anger over the make-up of the cabinet.
When told the names of their new ministers the question on the lips of Iraqis, both at home and abroad, was: "Who are they?" Two figures they recognised were the holders of the foreign affairs and interior portfolios.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Hoshyr al-Zebari, is a leading member of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), who is related by marriage to its head, Mr Massoud Barzani. Arab Iraqis consulted by The Irish Times expressed some misgivings over the choice for this post of Mr Zebari, who belongs to a movement which battled Baghdad for decades for Kurdish self-determination.
The Interior Minister, Mr Nouri Badran, is a member of the Iraqi National Accord, an opposition group established in exile by former members of the Iraqi military and intelligence services. Some Iraqis assume he was given this portfolio on the supposition "use a Baathist to catch the Baathists", to hunt those involved in anti-occupation operations targeting key figures and installations. Others oppose bringing back former Baathists who may have been involved in human rights abuses during the regime of Saddam Hussein.
While it was expected that Mr Thamer Ghadhban, the current director of the Iraqi oil ministry, would be elevated to minister, this did not happen. Instead, a complete unknown was chosen, Mr Ibrahim al-Uloom, the son of a learned cleric on the governing council. Mr al-Uloom, who has lived most of his life abroad, trained as a petroleum engineer at the University of New Mexico and was employed for some time at the Kuwait Oil Company.
An Iraqi remarked that nepotism, rife in President Saddam's time, has not been abolished in the "new Iraq". While some of the new ministers are considered to be competent in the field for which they were chosen, in the case of others Iraqi informants are less certain.