From dictator Saddam to dictator Bremer. "Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money, he has the signature," said UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. The wrangling over who should be the members of the new Interim Government has finally ended and the new Interim Government was installed on June 1, 2004. It will hopefully get back "full sovereignty" onjune30,2004.

Poor Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Special Envoy for the work in Iraq had very little to say, though he has been going round different places for months. Anyway, he played a role in finding the other ministers. The whole process was against the spirit of Iraqis choosing their own representatives. Even without elections, which were apparently not feasible at this stage, the various groups such as the Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and the sects within, could be given the choice to come up with their representatives. They would have obviously fought over and agreed on their representatives. This would have given some legitimacy to the new Interim Government. But this did not happen. It was also not known whether the UNSC ever agreed on undertaking such a task and sending a representative for the purpose. Lakhdar Brahimi, though a well-meaning individual with Arab background, was not the right man for the job as he had some fixed ideas because of his earlier work in Afghanistan where the fight is still on. Iraq is certainly different from Afghanistan.

Here also the signal is already there showing non-acceptability by the Iraqis of the Interim Government of handpicked people. Bombs killed 14 Iraqis and 5 US troops just after the announcement of the new Interim Government. But everything would depend on what role the

President Gazi Yavar plays and whether he can exert his authority on the coalition establishment in Baghdad and tell Iraqis that he will ask for departure of the coalition forces as soon as he can organize an alternative force that can take over effectively from the coalition forces. He should indeed ask the UNSC to include in the resolution the provision for a UN peace-keeping force to be taken mainly from friendly Arab and Muslim countries. Such a force could be acceptable to the Iraqis, and could quickly replace coalition forces.

The most important thing is to ensure security. If the Interim Government members themselves continue to worry on whether they can stay alive, they can not go for the security of their people. Therefore the immediate necessity is to work for curbing the violence. The only way to achieve this is to send the occupation forces back home quickly. Indeed, this would be good for President Bush also for his election purposes, and also for the US families, as there willnotbe anymore loss of American lives. If the insurgents see that they do not have to fight the coalition forces any more, this will bring some sort of calm to the country. There is absolutely no other way. The Iraqis appear determined to fight the occupying forces, come what may. This reality has to be understood. Therefore, there is an immediate need to have the proposed UN peace-keeping force that can bring confidence in the minds of ordinary Iraqis. Such a friendly force may help create an acceptable environment for holding of elections at the end of the year, or very early next year, and also start building up the Iraqi forces

While welcoming the new Interim Government in Iraq, which replaced the Provisional Governing Council on Junel, President Bush looked exhausted. His voice was

hoarse and his unusual repetition of the words like freedom, democracy, security, full sovereignty, helping Iraq, Saddam etc, showed his worries, probably not about Iraq, but about its effect on his upcoming presidential election. Therefore he wanted to justify what was done and achieved in Iraq. All these were to counter the accusations John Kerry made against Bush's handling of Iraq.

Bush categorically said he had no role in choosing the president and prime minister of Iraq. He is proba-blyright, as he had hardly any knowledge of these people. Obviously he had to depend on the advice of Paul Bremer. It was also clear that the US did not fully support Gazi Yavar, the president designate. Paul Bremer had to go by the majority view on at least one, as he had already chosen the key man, the Prime Minister Alawi who has been in the good books of the US. Interestingly, most of the members of the Interim Government are former exiles and hence they are unlikely to be immediately acceptable to the ordinary Iraqis. The only exception appears to be President designate Yavar who has better reputation amonglraqis.

Ambassador Paul Bremer will leave and Ambassador Negroponte will replace him with some modified version ofthe occupation work. The US will have the biggest embassy on Earth with some 1000 people in Baghdad. So it seems to be just a form of change of the mantle of occupation, the effects remaining practically same for Iraqis.

Unilateralism is slowly and grudgingly moving towards some form of multilateralism. But it has come too late. Because of unilateral attack and resultant occupation, many lives have been lost on both sides. Fighting terrorism (the definition of terrorism has not been set by the UN yet — freedom fighters can-

not be termed as terrorists) is a legitimate task and the world was supportive of America's initiative to fight terrorism. But Iraq attack was for different reasons. These have been amply described by Bob Woodward in his latest book Plan of Attack. Anyway, the UN did not authorize any country(s) to go and dislodge Saddam and occupy Iraq. Iraq stands shattered; its people utterly humiliated. After all this, the word freedom means very little to the Iraqis.

The latest draft resolution on transfer of sovereignty is under active consideration of the UNSC. Indeed, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair did well by agreeing to go for a new UN resolution on transfer of power. Again the process started with symbolic transfer of sovereignty, then limited sovereignty and now under international pressure, words such as full sovereignty are being mentioned. But does full sovereignty mean anything when there are over 138,000 foreign troops in the country and the chain of command goes up to the White House and not to Interim Iraqi President GaziYavar?

There is a somewhat vague mention of early 2006 for withdrawal of coalition forces. Countries such as France, Russia, and China have been asking for specific commitment on withdrawal of forces. The US might find it difficult to go for any of such specific commitments.

In any case, the handpicked members of the Interim Governing Council will virtually have no power even if mentioned in the UN resolution when it comes to US interest. The realities on the ground will determine events. However, Ali Sistani, chief Shia cleric has given cautious welcome to the Interim Government. This would help. Indeed, as the situation stands, Iraqis should accept the latest UN resolution, which is being negotiated as an interim arrangement, stop violence, and start working for electing a representative government early nextyear.

Muslehuddin Ahmad, a former Secretary and Ambassador is presently the Vice Chancellor of Presidency University.