Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 30, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A15 Winnipeg free press focus wednesday june 30, 2004. Handover of Power in Iraq iraqi pm needs distance from . Allawin seeks to show he in to american puppet it was the dire Security situation in Ira that prompted the spa to stage the hand Over two Day Early t he last thing Iyad Allawin needed right now was a photo of of presi Dent George w. Bush congratulating him on becoming prime minister of the Sovereign government of Iraq. What he must do in order to survive not Only politically but personally is to put As much space As possible Between himself and the United states. So its just As Well that Security concerns ? in particular last weeks killing by Small arms fire of a Pas Senger aboard a c-130 aircraft just after Takeoff from Baghdad ? forced or. Bush a handlers to cancel his secretly planned trip to Baghdad to do the handover of Power in person. Allawin does t mind at All. Instrument every iraqi knows what happened to Nuri said 14 times prime minister and London a main instrument for controlling the British appointed Kings who ruled Iraq until 1958. When iraqi nationalists rebelled and Over threw the puppet monarchy they machine gunned the Young King who was just playing the role he had been born into. But when a mob caught Nuri said two Days later trying to escape Baghdad dressed As a woman they Tore him apart with their Bare hands and left his remains in the Road to be flattened by the traffic like roadkill. Iraqis do not like collaborators. The risk of ending up the same Way must haunt Iyad Allawin for his position is quite similar. According to the latest opinion poll conducted by the coalition provisional authority itself 92 per cent of Arab iraqis now see americans As occupiers and Only two per cent As liberators. Allawin owes his position entirely to the United states depends on .-controlled Money for the Day to Day operations of his government and must rely on american troops to protect him and fight the resistance. He is Actu ally More compromised than Nuri said was and he knows it. It was the dire Security situation in Iraq that prompted the spa to stage the hand Over two Days Early to forestall the Avalanche of attacks that were probably scheduled for the announced Date of june 30. Security is even worse than it was Dur ing the uprisings in april because the rebels in fal Lujah and the rebel shia cleric Mortada Al Sadr both effectively won their confrontations with american forces. Fal Lujah is now a no go area for . Forces and it serves As interim capital for the sunni letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email right chose wrong Leader so we have Given the Liberal govern ment a message and reduced them to a minority position. I think there is a much stronger Mes Sage being sent by the voters of this country however and that is that Stephen Harper has failed to offer canadians any hint of a trustworthy alternative. How could he lose an election to a party which has done so Many outrageous and blatantly stupid things while governing the liberals should have been thrown out of office but the electorate held its nose and let them stay. In the past several Days i have heard one phrase from a surprisingly Large and diverse number of people Stephen Harper scares to me that says it All. The progressive conservative and Reform parties have taken a plausible idea like uniting the right and messed it up by choosing the wrong Leader and letting the reformist element within scare canadians away. For the first time in my life i voted without any regard for my local Candi dates. I voted for the lesser of two evils. But if i had seen a moderate conservative alternative with someone like Joe Clark at the Helm i would have cast my vote for them in a heartbeat. How Many others would have done the same Doug Crapper Winnipeg liberals used fear not reasoning congratulations to liberals across this country for influencing canadians to vote More out of fear than reasoning. It is sad that canadians fear the ideas coming out of the West and that desperate political parties use this for their own Agenda and impede the Progress of Canada As a total. Western Canada is not a backwards place and its lifestyle and ideas Are something that is special in this global world. It is my Hope As a Westerner that someday canadians nationwide will awaken to the fact that we do not have to live with the status quo and that people in the East will see our visions As something they can relate to and not fear. Curtis Kangas Winnipeg voters should have Given liberals the Boot you would think that the eligible Vot ers in Canada would have had enough of the Liberal party by now. It seems that there Are enough Vot ers in Canada who must have believed Paul Martin and his fear mongering about voting for the conservatives. A whopping 37 per cent and they get the most seats although they now will have a dance partner until the next insurgents who have done most of the fight ing against the occupation so far. The Young extremist Mortada Al Sadr was neither killed nor arrested by . Forces As the spa spokesman kept promis ing. Instead his influence among the major Ity shias has grown at the expense of his More moderate elders and Najaf and Kar Bala have also effectively become no go areas for . Forces. Half of the newly recruited iraqi police and army troops refused to fight fellow iraqis on behalf of foreigners during the april revolts and 10 per cent actually switched sides and fought for the rebels. Attacks the spectacular coordinated attacks of june 25, when insurgents stormed police stations and government buildings in five cities killing 85 and injuring 320, show How powerful the iraqi resistance has now become. To talk of these insurgents As terrorists is just name calling terrorists do not stand and fight. Nor Are they necessarily anti iraqi forces As . Propaganda insists they include Many iraqis who believe rightly or wrongly that the Bush administration a plans for Iraq do not include either real democracy or genuine Independence. These Are the people that Allawin must convince or marginalize if he is to survive. That is Why last weekend he emphasized the difference Between foreign Many iraqis terrorist fundamentalists and criminals do not see whose sole objective is to kill and maim the handover innocent people ? to Allais the islamist holy warriors who Are government responsible for most As a new of the indiscriminate suicide bomb beginning. Ings ? and honest iraqi patriots who Are simply fighting to drive the americans out. He did t put it exactly that Way of course since the United states pays his Bills but that was the logic behind his offer of amnesty to those iraqis who have acted against the occupation out of a sense of an amnesty is obviously the right strategy but that does t mean it will work. Many iraqis do not see the handover to Allais government As a new beginning. For the election which May not be too far off. It is too bad that the liberals were not Given a big Boot in the rear end and told to sit out the next dance and listen to someone else a music for awhile. George Morawski Winnipeg election result hard to believe i am amazed at How Many of my Fel Low canadians still believe that it is of for the liberals to squander away our hard earned tax dollars. I certainly am not looking Forward to another four years of Liberal Rule. Andy Chiasson Winnipeg doonesbury police gave Good advice this is regarding the Fine co operation of several officers of the Winnipeg police service on june 19. I attended the 23rd annual peace walk that gathered at the legislative grounds. The several Hundred estimate proceeded in Parade fashion East on Broadway to main Street. Then North on main Street heading for Portage Avenue. At the York Street intersection a police officer asked for the a permit was not available. The offi cers directed the peace walkers to use the sidewalk not the Street As the Law requires. Some moments of discussion arose from the confusion Over the absence of multitude of cynics its just the exiles who came Back to Iraq on the coattails of the . Army rearranging their deck chairs once again. Moreover the insurgents have the bit Between their Teeth and people Are less inclined to Compromise when they think they re going to win. Allawin himself is a particular problem he has been a prime Cia asset for Many years and admits to having taken Money from a total of 15 foreign intelligence Agen cies. All in the cause of overthrowing sad dam Hussein he insists and it s probably True ? but its not the cd you would choose if your task was to persuade sceptical iraqi nationalists that your real master is the iraqi people not the United states. Allawin is trying to show that he s not a puppet of the american occupation forces but it s hard to do when the truth is that he a be dead in a Day without american Protection. His press conferences Are held in the heart of the Green zone the Headquarters of the . Civil administration in Iraq and you have to pass through four checkpoints manned by american soldiers to get to them. There is not a single iraqi Soldier in sight. A permit when the request for it was made in sufficient time. The peace walk has been an annual event in Winnipeg for the past 22 years and always with a full contingent of the police escort i was not part of the planning of the walk or the above discussion at main Street. As happened the officers recommended the use of St. Mary Avenue As the route Back to memorial blvd. This Wise offer was accepted and no further difficulty resulted. Frequent complaints concerning front line staff gain some publicity. The constructive common sense activity As above needs to be noted. This individual extends appreciation and sincere thanks to the officers. Don Browne Winnipeg by Garry Trudeau ;