Yawer belongs to Shammar, Iraq’s biggest clan

By Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, June 2 (IslamOnline.net) – Two of Iraq's three largest tribal groups have expressed reservations about the manner in which Iraq's new interim government was selected.

Iraq's Governing Council named Tuesday, June 1, Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawer – a leader of Iraq’s biggest clan Shammar – as interim president after Council member Adnan Pachachi turned down the post.

Hours later, the new cabinet line-up was officially installed  under prime minister Ayad Allawi.

"There was no sound mechanism for picking members of the government, which will only be an extension to the time of [Governing Council] which lacked legitimacy and public support," Sheikh Nasrallah Abdel-Karim, the spokesman for the National Council of Iraqi Clans, told IslamOnline.net.

"The line-up was a byproduct of occupation, and the government will, one way or another, serve the will of the occupation authority which brought to power," he maintained.

Abdel-Karim, whose council groups Sunni and Shiite clans, said occupation officials exploited some persons to take up responsibility for the coming "critical and sensitive period, in which decisive actions will be taken regarding the future of Iraq and its relations with the occupiers".

However, he stressed that the council has no reservations about the personality of Al-Yawer, noting he "hails from a famed family held by all Iraqis in high esteem".

Yawer was a member of the clans council before being appointed to the U.S.-handpicked Governing Council.

The clans council had refused to be officially represented in the U.S.-sanctioned body.

'Farce'

Ghaleb Al-Rekabi, the secretary general of the Democratic Grouping of Iraqi Clans, underlined that the choice of Yawer without elections is "rejected and raises a lot of question marks".

He told IOL that selection process was nothing but a "farce" played by the U.S. occupation forces and first started with the creation of the Governing Council.

Al-Rekabi argued that the Americans went public with their support of Pachachi and opposition to Yawer only to secure a public support for the latter.

Joining up the opposition chorus, Harith Al-Dari, the secretary general of the Muslim Scholars Association, said the new government is an "American product", and expected the lineup to crumble in failure.

"This is a play produced by the Americans and performed after the consent of the U.S.-made Iraqi Governing Council," he told IOL.

The Sunni scholar said the government is based on sectarian division and its members are unknowns "which runs counter to earlier statements that the government will be a one grouping efficiencies".

'Central Power'

However, the National Alliance of Iraqi Clans and Tribes said the selection of Yawer to lead the country is "favorable regardless of the fact that he took office with no general elections".

"He is a scion of a famous and influential family – something which provides Yawer with a central power and affect his political decisions," said Sami Al-Daylami, a spokesman for the alliance.

"This tribal allegiance increases his power, not the opposite. But the price is to [honor] tribal traditions".

"He knows well what it means when an American soldier ties or detains a woman, or when he puts his shoes on an Iraqi detainee".

Al-Daylami hoped the new government's decisions will not be "at the hands of the occupation forces".

"We are in no need for a transitional government lacking real powers, authorities or financial sources to run Iraq".

The new government will take power from the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) on 30 June and will run the country until elections are held in next January.

The U.S. and Britain submitted late Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council a revised draft resolution on Iraq that includes more sovereignty to the government.

But it doesn't specifically give the new leaders the right to ask a multinational force to leave, and still authorizes the U.S.-led forces to take "all necessary measures" to provide stability.