By IPS Correspondents
ABU DHABI, Apr 5 2003 (IPS)

The United States’ deliberate silence on how it plans to return Iraq to the Iraqi people after the war is a serious problem, conceived a United Arab Emirates (UAE) English daily.

Despite the coalition’s claim that it will return Iraq to the Iraqi people, the Dubai-based ‘Gulf News’ said in its editorial today nothing has been said about "when a handover will happen, nor about what kind of Iraqis it will accept in an interim administration, nor if it will leave a future government of Iraq free to make its own decisions without pre-conditions.

"The Bush administration should make clear that it will not run Iraq, even for an interim period. It should make public how it will hand over power quickly from its military to the United Nations, and the United Nations should be ready to take control of an interim administration and be ready to allow free elections in Iraq after a reasonable time, so that any incoming Iraqi government has a popular mandate, which will be badly needed to cope with the rebuilding of Iraq’s national institutions, and be able to take its own decisions about its own future," the paper wrote.

The lack of substantial Iraqi political backing for the war, the paper believes, has meant that the coalition forces have not been able to gather popular support from Iraqis.

– They are perceived as invaders, rather than liberators, and the expected popular uprisings are not happening. For Iraqis to start actively rejecting Saddam’s government, they need political inspiration from their own leaders," ‘Gulf News’ commented.

ôIn addition to ignoring the Iraqi leaders, the US does not have any clear plan for the future. It is outrageous that the hawks in the Bush administration who wanted this war, do not know what they want to do with Iraq when they have finished fighting. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is bickering with Secretary of State Colin Powell over which US government officials should be in a future US interim administration."

It is not for America to make these decisions, the paper argued. ôIf it does, the Americans will lose whatever political support they have still managed to hang on to in the Middle East. Many might sympathize with the removal of Saddam Hussein, but that limited supportive neutrality for the war does not carry over in any way to supporting an American attempt to run Iraq, even for a short period."

The newspaper concluded by saying that the coalition should move quickly to avoid the political tragedy that will happen if it tries to take over Iraq itself, even for an interim period. ôThe United Nations is the only body that has the international authority and integrity to do it. The United States and the coalition should make this clear."

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