Prime minister backs constitution
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The Iraqi prime minister’s office said Wednesday it is committed to Transitional Administrative Law, a document backed by Kurdish leaders and opposed by the country’s top Shiite cleric in a dispute that could lead to a governmental crisis. The U.N. Security Council made no actual mention of the law in its resolution, passed Tuesday, which endorsed the June 30 transfer of sovereignty in Iraq and gave authorization for a U.S.-led multinational force to stabilize the country. The two top Iraqi Kurdish leaders have informed President Bush that if the law, or TAL, is scrapped down the road, the autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq will stop participating with the Iraqi interim government. Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani sent a letter to Bush raising concerns about Kurdish representation in the interim governmental structure and the future of the TAL, approved in March by the now-dissolved Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority. Written last week but publicized Wednesday, the Kurdish letter is raising concern among officials. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s office issued a statement Wednesday saying, “the tasks and powers of the president of the republic, his vice presidents, prime minister and ministers of the interim government have been defined by the state administrative law, endorsed by the former Governing Council and the coalition authority. Therefore the interim Iraqi government announces its full commitment to this law in the interim and transitional phase.” More : edition.cnn.com |