Fresh Rulers to Emerge, Garner Says

BAGHDAD —  With Iraqis adrift and clamoring for leadership, the American general in charge of rebuilding the nation said Thursday that a new government would begin functioning next week, and that fresh rulers would soon emerge.

But retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, on his second day in Baghdad, offered few specifics and failed to satisfy the hunger here for information about how people will lead their lives in the coming weeks and months.

Speaking to reporters, Garner chalked up widespread anti-American sentiment in Iraq to undue Iranian influence and said he was confident the United States could block an Islamic republic from being formed in this oil-rich country.

Garner arrived in Baghdad on Monday, 12 days after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, which had ruled the country for nearly 25 years.

In its wake was a chaotic spasm of looting and violence accented by electrical blackouts and critical water shortages. Following two days in Kurd-controlled northern Iraq, Garner conducted a second round of meetings in the capital Thursday as his staff moved into permanent headquarters in one of the former dictator’s lavish marble palaces.

The American delay in implementing a governing plan left a void that has been filled by once-repressed Shiite Muslim clerics and returning Iraqi exiles -- all vying for power and taking over neighborhoods, hospitals and portions of government offices.

On Thursday, Garner dismissed both the threat from rising Shiite influence and the havoc wreaked by self-declared leaders, many of whom believe they have strong U.S. backing.

To find leaders that Iraqis will accept, Garner and his aides have been interviewing numerous residents as well as expatriates. It remains unclear who will join the U.S.-led mission, but there seems to be a growing awareness that the Americans’ first choice, exiled banker Ahmad Chalabi, is a nonstarter.

“If they [leaders] emerge and the Iraqis don’t accept them, then we’ll start over,” Garner said. “If [Iraqis] are crying out for leaders, then they’ll accept those who emerge.”

In a meeting with about 60 Iraqi intellectuals, doctors and other professionals, Garner heard strong objections to the appointment of Chalabi and his associate Mohammed Zubeidi, who declared himself mayor of Baghdad before being disavowed by the Americans earlier this week.

Garner reassured the meeting that the United States does not recognize “self-proclaimed rulers,” according to participants.

A senior official in Garner’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance said Chalabi was not invited to the town-hall-style meeting, which pointedly included “Baghdad residents” and not exiles.

The gathering allowed the American newcomers to speak to Iraqis who remained in the country during its most difficult years and involved prominent community members, not necessarily those jockeying for political power.

“We didn’t select these people as the leadership,” the senior official said.

“They were selected for their current standing in the community. If some develop into leaders, that’s entirely possible, but this is not a meeting of leaders. This is not an endorsement of these people.”

Participants in the meeting emphasized to Garner and his team that they must act faster to fill the vacuum left by Hussein’s fall. “He just said he was doing his best,” said a disappointed Youarash Haidou, a retired English teacher who attended the session.

Garner also said affiliation with Hussein’s Baath Party did not automatically disqualify Iraqis from joining the new government -- as long as they were not one of “Saddam’s thugs” and did not participate in violation of human rights.

Garner oversees an office of more than 500 people, including advisors assigned to each ministry to form what many see as a shadow government -- a characterization that Garner rejects.

“I think you’ll begin to see the governmental process start probably next week, by the end of next week,” Garner said. “It will have Iraqi faces on it. It will be government by the Iraqis.”

Garner said he hoped employees could return to many of the ministries by late next week, under the stewardship of the U.S. advisors.

The civil servants will be given a token, emergency payment, then undergo vetting to remove those tainted by the former regime’s misdeeds, and will begin receiving salaries within a month.

“If there’s no longer a ministry, we’ll find a facility,” he said. “If they still have a ministry and there’s no furniture, we’ll go buy the furniture, we’ll get the computers, we’ll start all that government. It’s very important that the people start back to work.”

In another development, Brig. Gen. Carl Strock, from Garner’s team, announced Thursday that 175,000 barrels a day of oil are now flowing to a refinery and power plants in the southern city of Basra. In the next day or two, 60,000 barrels a day are expected to begin flowing in the north.

Garner said recent demonstrations protesting the U.S. presence in Iraq were more extensive than he had expected but said they were influenced by Iran.

Tehran said Thursday that it was not attempting to promote a Shiite political role in Iraq.

Garner also visited the Iraq Museum, where priceless antiquities were stolen or destroyed. He said officials would consider offering amnesty or rewards to encourage the return of artifacts.

The museum in many ways has come to symbolize the nadir of American delay and inaction. Most of the looting took place while U.S. troops were nearby, and Iraqis complain bitterly that the military failed to protect such an obviously valuable target.

As Garner heard the chronology of destruction from the museum’s senior staff, employees stacked damaged paintings in the building’s domed foyer.

Mohammed Sabri, 33, a specialist in prehistoric ages who worked in the museum’s excavations, bemoaned the losses to the museum and blamed the Americans, at least partially, for failing to protect the building.

“They were late,” he said. “They should have been here the first day. The Ministry of Oil was protected from the first day. Why not the museum? Ask the Americans.”